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Speaker 1: to Hootsindai. Here at the volume heavy Tuesday.
Speaker 2: Everybody.
Speaker 1: Hope all you guys are having a great week. This
Speaker 1: is our second new episode of the day for those
Speaker 1: of you guys who missed it earlier. Today we did
Speaker 1: a deep dive into Luca's debut with the Los Angeles Lakers,
Speaker 1: against the Jazz, So scroll back into our feed and
Speaker 1: you'll find that one.
Speaker 2: In this video.
Speaker 1: Today, we're doing deep dives into three teams. Some early
Speaker 1: returns on Jimmy Butler with the Warriors, some early returns
Speaker 1: on Kyle Kuzma with the Milwaukee Bucks. I want to
Speaker 1: talk a lot about how that will look when Giannis
Speaker 1: is in the picture. Then, we haven't talked about the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia seventy six ers in a while, and I'm kind
Speaker 1: of annoyed and confused as to what they're trying to
Speaker 1: accomplish this season, So I want to talk about that
Speaker 1: in the tail end of the show.
Speaker 2: You guys know the job before we get started. To
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Speaker 1: also super helpful if you leave a rating and a
Speaker 1: review on that front. Don't forget about our new social
Speaker 1: media feeds on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We're releasing content
Speaker 1: throughout the year and then, last but not least, keep
Speaker 1: dropping mail bag questions in the YouTube comments that we
Speaker 1: keep get to them on Fridays throughout the remainder of
Speaker 1: the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So on
Speaker 1: the Warriors front, I'm talking a lot with respect to
Speaker 1: Lebron about the concept of right, Like, playing championship level
Speaker 1: basketball is really hard and takes a pretty desperate commitment
Speaker 1: to work. That's not even necessarily fun. It's fun in
Speaker 1: the context of winning, but playing championship basketball includes a
Speaker 1: lot of really difficult things to do on the court,
Speaker 1: a certain level of exertion that is difficult, And so
Speaker 1: if you don't actually think you're gonna get rewarded for
Speaker 1: it by actually believing there's an opportunity to accomplish something,
Speaker 1: it's going to be difficult even for the best players
Speaker 1: in the world to really get invested in that context.
Speaker 1: About four games ago, early last week, it became abundantly
Speaker 1: clear that the Warriors were going to trade for somebody.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was just the humiliation of
Speaker 1: missing out on Kevin Durant or what the deal was,
Speaker 1: but it became clear that they were going to get somebody.
Speaker 1: In the four games since then, since that Intel came
Speaker 1: down Steph is averaging thirty five points, five rebounds, and
Speaker 1: five assists per game in the two games since Jiman
Speaker 1: Butler actually started playing and making life easier for Steph.
Speaker 1: He just logged back to back games with at least
Speaker 1: thirty points on at least fifty percent shooting for the
Speaker 1: first time since the Dallas and Oklahoma City wins. Way
Speaker 1: back in early November, I talked about how the thing
Speaker 1: I was most excited about this deal. I do think
Speaker 1: that this Warriors team has a small window to maybe
Speaker 1: capitalize on an opportunity to win a championship here. But
Speaker 1: more than anything, it went from a team that was
Speaker 1: most likely not going to play any meaningful basketball, Like
Speaker 1: without a trade, that team is probably going to lose
Speaker 1: in the play in just like last year. But with
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler in the mix, they're almost certainly going to
Speaker 1: get out of that mess and get into a first
Speaker 1: round series, which means we're going to get another opportunity
Speaker 1: to watch Steph Curry play meaningful basketball. That's what I'm
Speaker 1: excited about, Steph said after the game. We've got an
Speaker 1: opportunity to do something pretty special considering where we've been
Speaker 1: this season, and he's right, there are lineups that they
Speaker 1: can put together now that have Steph, that have Jimmy,
Speaker 1: that have Draymond, to have Jonathan Kaminga when he comes back,
Speaker 1: and it looks like he's probably gonna be coming back
Speaker 1: after the All Star Break, where they have enough talent
Speaker 1: now to actually present some problems to some of these teams.
Speaker 1: And that's like when it comes to the playoffs, so
Speaker 1: much of it comes down to, like, what do we
Speaker 1: do that the other team sucks at? What do they
Speaker 1: do that we suck at? What can they capitalize on
Speaker 1: in terms of weaknesses and vice versa, And just bringing
Speaker 1: in a weapon like Jimmy Butler just puts them in
Speaker 1: a situation where they're gonna be a more precarious type
Speaker 1: of matchup to deal with. And like, God, if we
Speaker 1: can get if the Warriors end up matching up with
Speaker 1: somebody like the two seed, if they end up getting
Speaker 1: a Memphis, that's a matchup that they're capable of winning.
Speaker 1: And how great would it be if we got to
Speaker 1: see another month of high level playoff basketball out of
Speaker 1: Steph Curry, even with an opportunity to potentially do more.
Speaker 1: Like I said, it's not guaranteed there could be injuries,
Speaker 1: there could be things that go wrong, they could miss
Speaker 1: the playoffs, right, But by virtue of me making this deal,
Speaker 1: I find it far more likely than not that they're
Speaker 1: going to make it out of the play in tournament
Speaker 1: and get into a legitimate playoff series and give me Steph,
Speaker 1: Jimmy and Draymond in a playoff series, and I think
Speaker 1: that that's going to be a fascinating couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: And if they win, we could get to see another
Speaker 1: extended playoff runt from one of the greatest players in
Speaker 1: the history of the game. And that's why I'm excited.
Speaker 1: It's about belief. Like Steph looks engaged, he doesn't say
Speaker 1: that after the game unless he believes that this team
Speaker 1: can do something. Jimmy Butler, I think has been an
Speaker 1: amazing fit right away. I wasn't worried about it. I
Speaker 1: know there were some Warriors fans that were. I just
Speaker 1: think Jimmy's too smart of a basketball player that brings
Speaker 1: too many complimentary traits to what Steph Curry does. I
Speaker 1: want to talk a little bit about middle of the
Speaker 1: floor processing. This is something that I've talked a lot
Speaker 1: about on this show with respect to like mediocre playmakers
Speaker 1: in the sense that when you're in the middle of
Speaker 1: the floor, there's just you can only see, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe one fourth of what's happening around you. Uh, there's
Speaker 1: always like a lot of moving parts that can get
Speaker 1: confusing in the middle of the floor.
Speaker 2: It's a spot where a lot of players struggle.
Speaker 1: And it's why, like, when it comes to the mediocre playmakers,
Speaker 1: you kind of want to clear the side then have
Speaker 1: them operate so the whole floors in front of them,
Speaker 1: just so that they have an easier time making reads.
Speaker 1: But when you have a player who knows what to
Speaker 1: do there, when you have a player that doesn't panic,
Speaker 1: it's like that famous basketball you know, ism, whatever you
Speaker 1: want to call it.
Speaker 2: Be quick but don't hurry. Right.
Speaker 1: If you can get a player that can quickly process
Speaker 1: without rushing and making mistakes in the middle of the floor,
Speaker 1: all sorts of good things can happen to your offense.
Speaker 1: An example from late first half last night against the Bucks,
Speaker 1: Steph Jimmy two man game. Top of the key. Kuzma
Speaker 1: goes out with Steph. There's two guys on Steph. Jimmy
Speaker 1: catches in the middle of the floor when he catches
Speaker 1: in the middle of the floor. Draymond's man steps up
Speaker 1: closer to Jimmy, and now there's a two on one
Speaker 1: that's for with Draymond underneath the basket, Buddy Healed on
Speaker 1: the wing with Damian Lillard kind of splitting the difference
Speaker 1: between the two. Jimmy just calmly turns in pivots and
Speaker 1: looks at Buddy Healed. When he turns and pivots and
Speaker 1: looks at Buddy Healed, there goes Dame running out to
Speaker 1: go to Buddy because he's biting on that headfake or
Speaker 1: pass fake whatever. You just just Jimmy acknowledging Buddy's presence
Speaker 1: gets Dame to jump out. Then he just pivots again
Speaker 1: and looks and there's Draymond boot bounced past easy layup
Speaker 1: right under underneath the basket. He just looks so calm
Speaker 1: and comfortable operating there. Here's why that's important. Last night,
Speaker 1: you actually saw it in some zone. Looks got to
Speaker 1: get the ball in the middle of the zone, and
Speaker 1: the Warriors consistently got it to Jimmy there. They scored
Speaker 1: eight points on four zone possessions in that game, and
Speaker 1: the Bucks just stopped stop trying it. You can't can't
Speaker 1: run his zone if they're getting two points per possession.
Speaker 1: So that's part of it. But the biggest part, the
Speaker 1: most meaningful part within the playoff context, is the Steph
Speaker 1: Jimmy two man game. When you run the Steph Jimmy
Speaker 1: two man game, it's going to create advantages in three
Speaker 1: different ways. One is, like that sequence I just told
Speaker 1: you about, Jimmy sets a screen, both guys run with Steph.
Speaker 1: Now Jimmy's the role man, and it's a four on
Speaker 1: three where Draymond is absolutely an offensive threat in the
Speaker 1: dunker spot. Jimmy is a threat to score in the
Speaker 1: middle of the floor and to play make.
Speaker 2: Out of it.
Speaker 1: And you've got guys like Moses Moody in the corner
Speaker 1: who has just been fantastic since Andrew Wiggins injury it
Speaker 1: just or injury, excuse me trade. Since the Andrew Wiggins trade,
Speaker 1: it's given Moses Moody opportunity and he's just been capitalizing
Speaker 1: on it as a big, rangy wing on the perimeter
Speaker 1: that can knock down threes, drive close outs, and play
Speaker 1: defense and rebound. And it's just it's he's taken advantage
Speaker 1: of his opportunity and he's crushing. But like you get
Speaker 1: into those four on threes, if they put two on
Speaker 1: the ball with Steph, that's where Jimmy can operate in
Speaker 1: the middle of the floor. The second thing that will
Speaker 1: happen with the Steph Jimmy two main game is inside
Speaker 1: position ceiling on switches. So imagine a guy's guarding Steph
Speaker 1: one on one faced up with him and Jimmy.
Speaker 2: This is the defender.
Speaker 1: Jimmy comes up up and screens on the backside and
Speaker 1: it triggers a switch. Okay, if they switch, Jimmy can
Speaker 1: then seal and create that over the top passing angle.
Speaker 1: We talked I believe in Yester on the Sunday Show
Speaker 1: about just how dynamic Jimmy is in those inside seals
Speaker 1: at creating a passing angle and high pointing the basketball
Speaker 1: and catching it. That accomplishes the same goal, the same
Speaker 1: four on three. So like if you screen for Steph
Speaker 1: and your defender runs out onto Steph, but now you've
Speaker 1: got Steph's defender sealed on your top side and you
Speaker 1: get a catch over the top, it is an identical
Speaker 1: four on three because when you catch, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: your defender's behind you so you can just go right
Speaker 1: to the rim, which is going to force somebody to
Speaker 1: step up. There's your four on three. Now you have
Speaker 1: a three on two on the backside once that guy
Speaker 1: steps up to you after you catch on that inside seal.
Speaker 1: So you can get four on threes out of getting
Speaker 1: two onto Steph and just slipping out of it. You
Speaker 1: can get four on threes out of inside seals on switches. Now,
Speaker 1: what about when they well execute a switch, so they switch,
Speaker 1: but the guy who's guarding Steph just quickly dives around
Speaker 1: with some good swim move or something and gets behind Jimmy. Well,
Speaker 1: who's the guard that's quick enough to guard Steph? Now
Speaker 1: he's gonna guard Jimmy in the post? Wait until Jonathan
Speaker 1: Kaminga's back out there, and again it looks like he's
Speaker 1: gonna be coming back sometime shortly after the All Star break,
Speaker 1: Jonathan Kamenka comes back. Where are the athletes at? Where
Speaker 1: are you putting your athletes? Well, if you put your
Speaker 1: best forward athlete on Jimmy, that means your second best
Speaker 1: forward athlete is now guarding Jonathan Kaminga. Who's gonna just
Speaker 1: be a massive athletic mismatch. That you can attack if
Speaker 1: you have the best forward athlete on Jonathan Kminga. Now
Speaker 1: you got your third best perimeter defender overall guarding Jimmy Butler, Like,
Speaker 1: that's gonna put you in a bind in terms of matchups.
Speaker 1: That's gonna make that Steph Jimmy two man game even
Speaker 1: harder to account for. But again, what unlocks all of
Speaker 1: it is anytime they put two on the ball, anytime
Speaker 1: they botch a switch or they get sealed top side
Speaker 1: on Jimmy, He's going to be able to operate out
Speaker 1: of the middle of the floor better than any other
Speaker 1: player on this roster could. Draymond could do all the
Speaker 1: playmaking out of that position, but he couldn't bring the
Speaker 1: scoring out of that position. There are going to be
Speaker 1: times where Jimmy catches on the roll and everyone stays
Speaker 1: home and he's going to have to attack the rim
Speaker 1: and maybe finish in a little bit of traffic or
Speaker 1: hit something there in the middle of the floor. He
Speaker 1: can do that. He can do that at a really
Speaker 1: high rate. But I think the early returns from this
Speaker 1: have been beautiful in terms of just demonstrating the simple
Speaker 1: fact that Jimmy is not only a very complimentary athlete
Speaker 1: to Steph, but he also represents a gaping hole in
Speaker 1: the roster that was there before the deal, which is
Speaker 1: just having a really high level dribble a guy who
Speaker 1: can dribble, shoot, and pass on the floor that just
Speaker 1: greases the wheels for everything that you try to do
Speaker 1: on offense. Before we get done with the Warriors, I
Speaker 1: wanted to just share some lineup data from the early
Speaker 1: going here. So the starting group from last night that
Speaker 1: was Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green with Buddy Held
Speaker 1: and Moses Moody, which again, Moses Moody continues to just
Speaker 1: be fantastic with that group. They've played thirteen minutes. They've
Speaker 1: struggled to guard so far as a smaller group, but
Speaker 1: they have a one to fifty seven offensive rating with
Speaker 1: that group. That's really impressive. Then there's this lineup that
Speaker 1: they've been using with Jimmy Butler on the floor and
Speaker 1: Steph Curry off the floor. This is Jimmy Butler with Draymond,
Speaker 1: which I think has been interesting because Raymond has almost
Speaker 1: always been partnered with Steph, but now they're partnering him
Speaker 1: with Draymond just to kind of operate as like a
Speaker 1: guy who can feed the post and help that like
Speaker 1: make post entry passes and help that group defensively. Jimmy, Draymond,
Speaker 1: Quentin Post, Buddy Heald, and Brandon Pajemski. That group has
Speaker 1: played nine minutes in the last two games. They have
Speaker 1: a one to seventy five offensive rating and a fifty
Speaker 1: nine defensive rating. Again, but that's one hundred and sixteen
Speaker 1: net rating. They are plus eighteen points in nine minutes.
Speaker 1: They have been blowing out the opponent in nine minutes
Speaker 1: of action, just completely dominating. Then there's this group that
Speaker 1: they've been going to because Draymond's off the floor with Steph,
Speaker 1: so it's a group with Steph, but Jimmy and Draymond
Speaker 1: both off. It's Steph Curry with Kevon Looney, Gary Payton,
Speaker 1: Moses Moody and Brandon Pazemski. So three really scrappy wings,
Speaker 1: a bruising five, and Steph. They're plus three so far
Speaker 1: in seven minutes. The defense has struggled, but they've scored
Speaker 1: the ball super well because Steph is playing so incredibly well.
Speaker 1: And again it's been so abundantly clear to me that
Speaker 1: Steph just has a pep in his step. You could
Speaker 1: tell his life is easier now. You could tell he
Speaker 1: believes now, and he's playing his best basketball since the
Speaker 1: beginning of the season. I think it's super exciting. And
Speaker 1: one last note on the Warriors. I just wanted to
Speaker 1: shout out Quinton Post. He took a three on the
Speaker 1: right wing last night that put the Warriors up. I
Speaker 1: can't I think it put him up fourteen if I
Speaker 1: remember correctly, in the early fourth quarter, but it was
Speaker 1: like nineteen on the shot So he took a contested
Speaker 1: three on the right wing, like a hand in the face,
Speaker 1: not open, just like I'm hot. I know this thing
Speaker 1: is going in. I'm taking it. Literally, before the ball
Speaker 1: even went through the net, I'm watching the game live,
Speaker 1: Quinton shoots it. I immediately looked down at the scoreboard
Speaker 1: and I'm like, how much time is on the shot clock?
Speaker 1: It was nineteen seconds. There were nineteen seconds on the
Speaker 1: shot clock, and Quinton Post took a contested three on
Speaker 1: the right wing and just swished it. He's nine for
Speaker 1: sixteen from three in the last three games. He's basically
Speaker 1: snatched that job from Tray Jackson Davis and brings an
Speaker 1: interesting dynamic to this team with his ability to legitimately
Speaker 1: stretch the floor from the five spot. Really exciting stuff
Speaker 1: for the Warriors out of the early games with Jimmy
Speaker 1: Butler on the Milwaukee Bucks, and I'm gonna be talking
Speaker 1: a lot about a couple of games that they played recently.
Speaker 1: I did a full deep dive on their game with
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Seventies the other night. I did like a
Speaker 1: forty clip film thread on my Twitter feeds. You can
Speaker 1: go to my twitter feed at underscore Jason LT and
Speaker 1: see a bunch of video examples of some of the
Speaker 1: stuff I'm going to be talking about. We have three
Speaker 1: games since Kyle ku'sma trade, No yoh Honis, but I'm
Speaker 1: already completely sold on the fit. It's abundant. It's abundantly
Speaker 1: clear to me in the early returns that he is
Speaker 1: committed to playing winning basketball, which was the biggest question
Speaker 1: mark surrounding that trade. He's been in Washington, he's been
Speaker 1: playing in a bad team, some unserious basketball. How quickly
Speaker 1: will he be able to kind of like snap back
Speaker 1: into the player that he was at the end with
Speaker 1: the Lakers, which was a really good role player. I
Speaker 1: think it's been obvious to me that he's been committed
Speaker 1: to playing winning basketball. He's grabbing rebounds at the highest
Speaker 1: rate for him since twenty twenty two. He's grabbing eight
Speaker 1: rebounds per thirty six minutes. He's really competing on defense.
Speaker 1: I thought he was great in the Philly game. He
Speaker 1: was winning battles with Embiid, like beating Embiid to contested rebound. Again.
Speaker 1: I have videos of a lot of this stuff on
Speaker 1: my Twitter feed. You guys can see beating and beat
Speaker 1: to contested rebounds. He had a play where I got switched
Speaker 1: on to Himbiad and fronted the post and got low
Speaker 1: and was like backing them beat down, and when the
Speaker 1: pass came, he like battled and went up and got
Speaker 1: the pass and forced a turnover. He had this crazy
Speaker 1: recovery block on Tyrese Maxey where they're running stack, pick
Speaker 1: and roll, which again is where you have a guy
Speaker 1: backscreen for the role man as you're running a ball screen.
Speaker 1: So Kuzm's man sets a great screen right on brook Lopez,
Speaker 1: and brook Lopez just dies on the screen, and so
Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxey's screaming downhill for a left handed layup. Kuzma
Speaker 1: gets a little caught off guard by it, but just
Speaker 1: drop steps and jumps and blocks Tyrese Maxey off the glass,
Speaker 1: just like a really rangy and athletic defensive play. And
Speaker 1: like it's just so clear to me that he is
Speaker 1: a much more dynamic athlete than Chris Middleton is at
Speaker 1: this point in their careers. I am particularly excited about
Speaker 1: layering that with Jannis and Brook. Again, like everything's got
Speaker 1: to be looked at through the context of Yannis, because again,
Speaker 1: it hasn't been pretty. They're what one and two in
Speaker 1: the three games that Kuzma's played without without Yanis, the
Speaker 1: net ratings haven't looked good. Kuzma has had to do
Speaker 1: a little bit more offensively where he's been inefficient, there
Speaker 1: have been It hasn't exactly been like some sort of
Speaker 1: amazing sort of display. But I'm trying to pick out
Speaker 1: the specifics that Kyle Kuzma has been bringing and how
Speaker 1: they fit within the context of Yannis. Like Brook's been
Speaker 1: looking a little rough on defense this year, if you
Speaker 1: flank him with two rangey forwards like Yannis and Kyle Kuzma,
Speaker 1: you make his life easier. That group is going to
Speaker 1: be a dominant defensive, rebounding group. That group is going
Speaker 1: to be able to protect the rim at an extremely
Speaker 1: high level.
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 1: I think the commitment to the work from Kus is
Speaker 1: already there. And that's the most exciting part, because that
Speaker 1: was the part that was the biggest question mark coming
Speaker 1: into this deal. You guys have already seen the full
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma experience on offense. Is gonna take some bad shots.
Speaker 1: He's gotta miss a lot of them. He's at forty
Speaker 1: three percent from the field in twenty seven percent from
Speaker 1: three so far. It's kind of to be expected. But
Speaker 1: he can hit some tough ones too. He had a
Speaker 1: contested catch and shoot three late in the clock on
Speaker 1: the left wing against Philly where it was like a
Speaker 1: twenty seven footer hand right in his face end of
Speaker 1: the clock. Like his like kind of audacious scoring ability
Speaker 1: will rescue possessions for the Bucks. It will lead to
Speaker 1: extra points. But the most important part is even though
Speaker 1: he's inefficient. We talked about this right after the trade,
Speaker 1: watch the way he's guarded. I trimmed like a half
Speaker 1: dozen examples of this in that Twitter feed that I'm
Speaker 1: telling you guys about where Kyle Kuzma is just like
Speaker 1: showing the ball on the perimeter and dudes are flying
Speaker 1: at him and he's getting to the basket. Because of
Speaker 1: the way teams react to him, teams respect him as
Speaker 1: a high level scorer because they know he is a
Speaker 1: threat to be a high level scorer, even though he's
Speaker 1: not necessarily very efficient. He's had some decent on ball reps.
Speaker 1: He like posted Tyres Maxi on a switch and hit
Speaker 1: a short little fade whil He's made some nice ball
Speaker 1: screen reads he's run. He's had six ball screens where
Speaker 1: he's passed out of it that have led to six points,
Speaker 1: some nice kickouts to three point shooters that have gone well.
Speaker 1: The biggest thing that's been exciting to me though, with
Speaker 1: him on offense is him as a screener. He's done
Speaker 1: a really nice job with Dame reading when to slip
Speaker 1: out of screens. There's a very thing, there's a very
Speaker 1: specific thing you want to do when you're reading when
Speaker 1: to slip out of a screen. So, like, what's the
Speaker 1: purpose of a screen? The purpose of a screen is
Speaker 1: if I hit the guy that's guarding the ball handler
Speaker 1: and no one helps he, my ball handler is just
Speaker 1: gonna drive to the basket.
Speaker 2: That's the upside.
Speaker 1: But when you go up to set a screen and
Speaker 1: you see your man leave you to show on the
Speaker 1: ball handler, there's no purpose for the screen anymore. There's
Speaker 1: there's no reason to stay there a split second longer.
Speaker 1: Why because the only purpose for the screen is to
Speaker 1: get him free of his defender. And if he's just
Speaker 1: going to run into your defender, then there's no purpose
Speaker 1: to the screen anymore. So when you run up and
Speaker 1: you set a screen and you see your man and show,
Speaker 1: get the hell out as fast as possible and make
Speaker 1: yourself available. Kusma's been doing a brilliant job of getting
Speaker 1: out of those screens as soon as he sees his
Speaker 1: man leave and quickly making himself available. He's had finishes
Speaker 1: in traffic with the left hand. He's had multiple high
Speaker 1: quality short roll reads. He had one where he like
Speaker 1: did a head fake to the guy on the wing
Speaker 1: and then hit the corner and he was wide open.
Speaker 1: Another one where the head fake didn't go and the
Speaker 1: guy kind of stayed and he still made the right
Speaker 1: pass to the wing. He's going to be a very
Speaker 1: useful screening threat on this team. Again, I keep thinking
Speaker 1: about all of this in the context of Yannis being
Speaker 1: out there with those guys.
Speaker 2: I just think it's gonna work really well.
Speaker 1: I think it was a legitimate talent ad But most importantly,
Speaker 1: I think it alters the physical profile of this team
Speaker 1: in a real way. You go from Chris Middleton kind
Speaker 1: of a creaky older six ' eight guy to a
Speaker 1: six ' nine, younger athlete with longer arms who can
Speaker 1: like really cover ground. That is a very very useful
Speaker 1: player to have.
Speaker 2: In this context.
Speaker 1: I always talk about how like, especially when I get
Speaker 1: to the postseason, do you have something a problem that
Speaker 1: you can present to teams that they cannot solve? And
Speaker 1: I actually do think the Bucks have a frontline now
Speaker 1: that is physically incredibly difficult to deal with having Kuzmannianis
Speaker 1: and Brooke together. You're not getting offensive rebounds and you're
Speaker 1: not getting to the rim when all those guys are together,
Speaker 1: And that's gonna be a real problem for teams, especially
Speaker 1: when they run into teams in the postseason that are
Speaker 1: questionable jump shooting teams. Like if Milwaukee were to run
Speaker 1: into an Orlando, for instance, in a playoff series, is
Speaker 1: Orlando gonna be able to make nearly enough jump shots
Speaker 1: to win that kind of series? I don't think so.
Speaker 1: That's part of the physical element that you've added to
Speaker 1: this team by bringing in Kyle Kuzma a couple other
Speaker 1: quick ones. Gary, Trent and Dame have been playing really
Speaker 1: well together lately. They've been playing a lot more together
Speaker 1: and Gary's really gotten his three point shot going, and
Speaker 1: they even scoring the shit out of the ball. In
Speaker 1: the last eleven games, the Gary Tren Junior Dame duo
Speaker 1: has a one to twenty offensive rating. And then lastly,
Speaker 1: I just wanted to shout out Bobby Portis. I was
Speaker 1: watching him in that Philly game and Nick Nurse, who
Speaker 1: always has kind of an aggressive defensive philosophy and it's
Speaker 1: been like that ever since the Toronto days, but he
Speaker 1: was basically double teaming Bobby Portis every single time he
Speaker 1: caught the ball in the post, and he scored over
Speaker 1: double teams twice by just driving away from the double team.
Speaker 1: He made great passes out of the double team. Late
Speaker 1: in the game, Nurse had to bail on the double
Speaker 1: team and leave him one on one and he just
Speaker 1: little jabstep.
Speaker 2: Jumper knocked it down.
Speaker 1: Like Bobby was playing really really well on offense in
Speaker 1: that Phildy game.
Speaker 2: I just wanted to shout him out.
Speaker 1: I do want to talk a little bit about the
Speaker 1: Philadelphia seventy six ers though, before we get out of
Speaker 1: here to day. On the one hand, there's like some
Speaker 1: stuff that I've found really fascinating watching them as of late, Like,
Speaker 1: for instance, Tyres Maxi is just hooping his ass off.
Speaker 1: Last eighteen games for Tyrese Maxy, thirty two points per game,
Speaker 1: seven assists per game, sixty two percent true shooting, just
Speaker 1: incredible dribble penetration. There's this thing that happens with Tyrese
Speaker 1: Maxi where everybody in the world knows he wants to
Speaker 1: drive to the basket, and there's still absolutely nothing you can.
Speaker 2: Do about it.
Speaker 1: It's like a legitimate bonafide superpower, which is always the
Speaker 1: foundational trade. If you're gonna be a guy who averages
Speaker 1: over thirty points per game, or I think Tyre's is
Speaker 1: averaging about twenty eight on the season, but he's been
Speaker 1: averaging over thirty thirty two points per game for over
Speaker 1: a month now. When if you're gonna average that on
Speaker 1: over sixty percent true shooting, you better have a legit.
Speaker 1: You have to have a legitimate superpower, something that nobody
Speaker 1: can hang with. So for like Luka and Jokic. Its size.
Speaker 1: Right with Shay, it's ballham and shooting in his quick
Speaker 1: first step. Right with Tyree Masey, it's just that downhill speed,
Speaker 1: like no one can keep him in front. There is
Speaker 1: a play where he came sprinting into a catch off
Speaker 1: of a post split right. I think it was I
Speaker 1: think it was Embeedd who caught on the post and
Speaker 1: they ran just a typical split cut action.
Speaker 2: So like.
Speaker 1: Tyres comes off of a wide screen into a catch
Speaker 1: off of the guy from the post. Andre Jackson is
Speaker 1: another really good athlete in this league. He sprints over
Speaker 1: to get there to tyrease because one of the big
Speaker 1: things that's happened with Tyree over the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: He's become a great movement shooter. He can sprint into
Speaker 1: three point shots going both directions. He can plant right
Speaker 1: left and shoot, and then he can plant left right
Speaker 1: and like pivot in mid air and square up and
Speaker 1: knock down the shot. Like he's an elite movement shooter now.
Speaker 1: So you've got to stay attached as he's sprinting into
Speaker 1: these catches. Andre Jackson sprints into it, gets there. Tyree's
Speaker 1: just and rips back to the right, gets past Andre Jackson,
Speaker 1: Brook Lopez abandons, Joel Embian goes over to help, and
Speaker 1: Max he just gets right into the lane and brings
Speaker 1: out this big, sweeping scoop shot in the lane that
Speaker 1: goes in and I'm like, you quite literally cannot defend
Speaker 1: that any better than he did. And he still got
Speaker 1: to the rim. And even though you contested him at
Speaker 1: the rim, He's still made a difficult shot over everybody.
Speaker 1: It's just a ridiculously talented player. But him getting that
Speaker 1: movement shooting piece to help him counter ball pressure, to
Speaker 1: make it so that he can operate off the ball
Speaker 1: while also having his dominant on ball ability as a
Speaker 1: pull up shooter and a is a guy who can
Speaker 1: get downhill to the rim. He's just been a rare
Speaker 1: bright spot and a sixers team that has looked lost
Speaker 1: for large portions of this year. This is where I
Speaker 1: want to talk about me not understanding what the hell
Speaker 1: they're doing. I don't think Joel Ebid's been very good
Speaker 1: when he's played. They've been getting smashed when he's on
Speaker 1: the floor as of late. A couple big things that
Speaker 1: are standing out to me, like in space, like when
Speaker 1: he has to defend in ball screens up at the level,
Speaker 1: he just looks lost. He'll jump to the wrong side
Speaker 1: of the screen and a guy will just reject the
Speaker 1: screen and go the other way. Sometimes he just gets
Speaker 1: tired and lazy and doesn't even go up to the level.
Speaker 1: He'll just like kind of recklessly pursue the basketball and
Speaker 1: just give up dribble penetration going right around him. He'll
Speaker 1: like botch rotations where he ends up in the wrong spot.
Speaker 1: He's been really, really bad on defense. He's been almost
Speaker 1: exclusively popping and pick and roll instead of like working
Speaker 1: closer to the basket. And when he's popping and pick
Speaker 1: and roll, like teams like the Bucks will just rotate
Speaker 1: to him from off ball, and like he won't make
Speaker 1: just the simple passing read like, if they rotate to
Speaker 1: you off ball, just swing the damn ball to the
Speaker 1: next guy he's open. It'll start the defense. In rotation.
Speaker 1: He had to play against the Bucks where he picked
Speaker 1: him popped caught at the top of the key, there's
Speaker 1: a wide open swing pass to the left. Instead he
Speaker 1: ripped right into all the tracks and just ran over
Speaker 1: a dude and picked up an offensive foul and here's
Speaker 1: the thing. I know, Embiid's better than this. Even though
Speaker 1: Embiid has always struggled to guard in space and to
Speaker 1: garden transition, he's better than this. Even though he can
Speaker 1: struggle in space and in transition, he's elite at the
Speaker 1: rim and he can be very impactful there. He's better
Speaker 1: than this. Even on offense, he's better than this. And
Speaker 1: so this is where I'm wondering, like what the hell
Speaker 1: is he doing? Because I see a quote where it's
Speaker 1: like Joel Embiid believes or report that says Joel Embiid
Speaker 1: believes he's gonna need another surgery in this offseason. Just
Speaker 1: give him the surgery. What's the point of having him
Speaker 1: play on a knee that needs another surgery while he's
Speaker 1: playing bad basketball, while the team is getting thrashed while
Speaker 1: he's on the floor. And realistically, there's not a version
Speaker 1: of this that comes together and leads to a championship
Speaker 1: this season. Get embad the surgery. I mean, I heard
Speaker 1: Darren or say, like, we still believe that there's a
Speaker 1: championship ceiling here. I don't necessarily disagree, but it's not
Speaker 1: gonna be with this version of him. Beat get whatever
Speaker 1: he needs to get to one hundred percent by October.
Speaker 1: Then you go through a whole camp with him and
Speaker 1: with Paul and with Tyree's all healthy, another summer to
Speaker 1: bring in another piece or two, and then you go
Speaker 1: for it. But what are you gonna do, like where
Speaker 1: Embiid's knee down worse by having him play on a
Speaker 1: knee that needs to be surgically repaired so that you
Speaker 1: can crawl into the playoffs in a bad seed and
Speaker 1: end up having to play an elite team in every
Speaker 1: round and just and just probably end up losing and
Speaker 1: doing more damage in the process. I just I just
Speaker 1: don't really see what the goal is here, even when
Speaker 1: I'm watching Paul George. Like we've been a lot of
Speaker 1: people have been giving Paul George shit for not producing
Speaker 1: this year, myself included, But like he's also mostly uninvolved
Speaker 1: on offense. He's competing on defense, he's playing lanes, he's
Speaker 1: doing his job, but like he's mostly uninvolved on offense.
Speaker 1: And it's like, why did you pay that kind of
Speaker 1: money two hundred million to Paul George if you weren't
Speaker 1: gonna like actually make use of his talents. It just
Speaker 1: and again, some of it's on Paul to be clear,
Speaker 1: he needs to demand the basketball more, he needs to
Speaker 1: be more effective. But they also don't seem to be
Speaker 1: really trying to get him going either. I just wonder
Speaker 1: what the Sixers are trying to accomplish. It all seems
Speaker 1: to me like there's a lack of self awareness here
Speaker 1: in the sense that this season is lost. You're not
Speaker 1: gonna get anything done this year. There's no point in
Speaker 1: doing something that's just gonna further risk your chances in
Speaker 1: seasons in the future. I will say I did I
Speaker 1: do like seeing Quentin Grimes there. Love Quentin Grimes. He
Speaker 1: came in and was just attacking Gary Trent, attacking Dame Lillard,
Speaker 1: just bringing that kind of like athleticism in a little
Speaker 1: bit of score. I think he's gonna be useful player
Speaker 1: for them in the long run. Again, I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: sit here and pretend like they don't have a chance
Speaker 1: in the future. But their chance isn't gonna be this season,
Speaker 1: and they just need to read the tea leaves here
Speaker 1: and be more honest about their predicament. Shut him, beat down,
Speaker 1: get him the surgery he needs, have him. This is
Speaker 1: the beauty of this kind of timeline, it's February. If
Speaker 1: you shut him bead now and you get him and
Speaker 1: beat down now, and you get him the surgery, maybe
Speaker 1: he's recovered by July and then he can have a
Speaker 1: full summer to getting great cardiophysical shape so that he
Speaker 1: comes into the season with really low body fat, really
Speaker 1: good cardio conditioning, and then when you start to ramp
Speaker 1: him up really heavily into regular season shape, he's just
Speaker 1: ready for it.
Speaker 2: But instead, like, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1: Run him through it until early May when they get
Speaker 1: eliminated in the first round, and then his knees even worse,
Speaker 1: and you get the surgery then and you've lost three
Speaker 1: months on your timeline, Like, is that the alternative here?
Speaker 2: It's not like I would get it.
Speaker 1: I would understand if embiid was going out there and
Speaker 1: smashing everybody and your team was kicking ass when he's
Speaker 1: on the floor. That's not what's happening here. Just show
Speaker 1: some self awareness, shut him down, let him get healthy
Speaker 1: for next season, all right, guys, As all I have
Speaker 1: for today is always as sincerely appreciate you guys for
Speaker 1: supporting me and supporting the show. I believe tonight I'm
Speaker 1: going on with Colin cow Hurt, so you'll get a
Speaker 1: little bit around the league kind of big picture stuff
Speaker 1: with that, and then we'll be back tomorrow with some
Speaker 1: more game breakdowns, talking about some other debuts for other
Speaker 1: players after the trade deadline. I will see you guys.
Speaker 2: Then the volume What's So Guys?
Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting
Speaker 1: OOPS tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us
Speaker 1: if you guys would take a second and leave a
Speaker 1: rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys
Speaker 1: supporting us, but if you could take a minute to
Speaker 1: do that, I'd really appreciate it.