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Speaker 1: The volume. All right, welcome to Hoops and I. You're

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Speaker 1: at the volume had me Friday, everybody. I hope all

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Speaker 1: of you guys are having a great end to your week.

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Speaker 1: Today is mail bag Day. Thank you guys all for

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Speaker 1: adding questions. Remember, if you want to get questions in,

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Speaker 1: all you gotta do is drop them in the YouTube

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Speaker 1: comments under our full episodes, put mail bag with the clent.

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Speaker 1: Write your question that helps me sort through them, and

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Speaker 1: we'll get to them on Fridays throughout the remainder of

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Speaker 1: the season. You guys know the jrill before we get started.

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Speaker 1: Subscribe with Hoops and I YouTube channels you don't miss

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Speaker 1: any more of our videos, and then make sure you

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Speaker 1: like this video as well as sign up for our

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Speaker 1: post notifications. That helps us a lot. All right, let's

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Speaker 1: talk some basketball. First question, Hey, Jason, love the show.

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Speaker 1: One of the main reasons I enjoy the show is

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Speaker 1: because you aren't afraid to talk deeper, talk about deeper

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Speaker 1: than just hooping topics. Well, that being said, my question

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Speaker 1: is do you believe Luca is covered differently than his

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Speaker 1: peers in the media. He has all the same symptoms

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Speaker 1: of being an aau baby, such as the lack of

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Speaker 1: coming into season in shape and his perceived cocky attitude.

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Speaker 1: Do you think because he's European, he's just inherently covered

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Speaker 1: differently than American born players. Would love to hear your

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Speaker 1: thoughts and thanks again. This is an interesting question. There's

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Speaker 1: a lot of different angles to get into here. I

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Speaker 1: remember having a conversation with Adam Marrez. It was one

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Speaker 1: of the nights that we were My wife and I

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Speaker 1: were having dinner at his house and we were just

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Speaker 1: talking about Jokic and his overall personality. And one of

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Speaker 1: the things he talked about with some of these European

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Speaker 1: dudes is that they have like a passionate like joy

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Speaker 1: for like life, for like enjoying life. Like They're freaky competitive,

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Speaker 1: and they love basketball, and they certainly have a level

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Speaker 1: of focus and intensity there, but they don't forego the

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Speaker 1: pleasures of life. You know what I mean essentially is

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Speaker 1: the way that he explained it to me, and I

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Speaker 1: had never really thought of it that way, because that culture,

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Speaker 1: I think, is something that we've seen with both Yo

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Speaker 1: Kitch and with Luka Doncics, where there's the competitiveness, there's

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Speaker 1: the care, but there's also like the there's not like

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Speaker 1: the absolutely ocd insane basketball is all that matters type

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Speaker 1: of attitude that you'd see from like a Kobe Bryant,

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Speaker 1: for example. And I do think that that plays some

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Speaker 1: role in some of the doughiness that we see from

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Speaker 1: both of those guys. As far as the media question goes,

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Speaker 1: I you know, I don't think Luca's covered with kid gloves.

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Speaker 1: In fact, I think it's the opposite. I mean, I

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Speaker 1: mean yesterday, like I was like every time I opened

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Speaker 1: up my phone, it felt like everybody in the media

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Speaker 1: was ripping him a new one. And like, overall, I

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Speaker 1: think Luca has been a guy that's been the criticism

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Speaker 1: has been fair, but I think he's been criticized plenty.

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Speaker 1: The point being like, I don't think there's some sort

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Speaker 1: of loophole that Luca's slipping through here and getting off

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Speaker 1: the hook for the stuff that's happening. I talk about

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Speaker 1: this all the time. With great power comes great responsibility.

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Speaker 1: When you are a legitimate, top tier superstar in the NBA,

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Speaker 1: just like when you're one of those top tier starting

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Speaker 1: quarterbacks in the NFL, all the questions, all the criticism,

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Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff tends to be directed towards you.

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Speaker 1: It comes with huge shoe deals and super max contracts,

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Speaker 1: and all the dudes who have been that in the

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Speaker 1: past have become legends, right, Like that's the thing, Like,

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Speaker 1: if Luca ends up winning two NBA finals in his

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Speaker 1: career and gets two finals MVPs, he will be revered

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Speaker 1: as a basketball player in a way that only maybe

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Speaker 1: a couple dozen players have in the history of the league,

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Speaker 1: maybe fifteen in the history of the league that get

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Speaker 1: revered that way. So like it's a given to take, right, Like,

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Speaker 1: it comes with a lot of criticism, and when you're bad,

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Speaker 1: everyone's gonna tell you that you're bad, right, But then

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Speaker 1: it also comes with the reverence in the way that

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Speaker 1: they can become almost legendary in the way that we

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Speaker 1: discuss them, right. And So I don't think Luca has

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Speaker 1: gotten off. I think he's been I mean, yesterday he

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Speaker 1: was just getting dragged through the meat grinder, right, So, Like,

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Speaker 1: he definitely gets criticized for the for what I think

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Speaker 1: are valid reasons regarding his conditioning, regarding his complaining to

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Speaker 1: the refs regard like I didn't I didn't see a

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Speaker 1: lot of unfair stuff going out last night, like or yesterday,

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Speaker 1: Like the stuff with him complaining to the refs is

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Speaker 1: a real problem. There is literally not a single player

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Speaker 1: in the NBA that behaves with the refs the way

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Speaker 1: that he does. He is actually hurting his game and

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Speaker 1: hurting his team by primarily focusing on grifting rather than

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Speaker 1: trying to create his own shots. And when he doesn't

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Speaker 1: get calls him not getting back on defense. And there

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Speaker 1: are some very legitimate criticisms with him that I think

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Speaker 1: are are that I think we're getting hit on. But

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Speaker 1: I definitely don't think he's getting away with anything. The

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Speaker 1: media has been on his case for sure. Next question.

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Speaker 1: The perfect solution for the Lakers is this. One of

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Speaker 1: the three playmakers, Luca Lebron Reeves has to average double

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Speaker 1: digit assists while the two of them go off on offense.

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Speaker 1: This ensures that at least one of them is looking

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Speaker 1: to get the team going. This means Rui is getting

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Speaker 1: good shots, Jake is getting good shots eight and is

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Speaker 1: getting good looks and opportunities on mismatches at the rim.

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Speaker 1: When one playmaker does not have it going, like Luca

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Speaker 1: on some nights, he should constantly threaten running towards the

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Speaker 1: baskets get easy looks while also getting open threes and

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Speaker 1: driving lanes first teammates. The Lakers struggle most when their

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Speaker 1: stars aren't shooting the ball well, but still keep trying

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Speaker 1: to push and find rhythm while simultaneously forgetting their teammates

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Speaker 1: need to touch and shoot the ball to your thoughts,

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Speaker 1: So this is where I actually disagree in the sense

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Speaker 1: that I think, like when you're I think that every

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Speaker 1: single possession for the Lakers that is like a legitimate,

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Speaker 1: full normal half court possession should involve all three stars

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Speaker 1: in the action. So what does that mean when you're

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Speaker 1: in the flow of the game, So if you're playing

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Speaker 1: in semi transition, so like, okay, we get a stop

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Speaker 1: and we have a four on three and we're playing

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Speaker 1: off of that initial advantage, or like sometimes in late

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Speaker 1: game situations, you might be hunting a specific one on

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Speaker 1: one matchup that you like, so you might just dribble

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Speaker 1: the ball at the floor and get a screen from

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Speaker 1: a guard to get a specific one on one matchup

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Speaker 1: that you like. There are times when stagnation and just

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Speaker 1: kind of naturally happens in games there I know there

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Speaker 1: there are a lot of people who cover the league

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Speaker 1: or are fans of the league that talk about it

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Speaker 1: in the sets, like, oh, we should go down and

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Speaker 1: run a set on every single possession. That's just that's

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Speaker 1: just not how basketball works. Anybody who's ever played the

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Speaker 1: game knows. That's why at every level they coach early

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Speaker 1: offense and like motion offense, meaning like when we are

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Speaker 1: not running a set, this is what we do. We

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Speaker 1: push the ball to the floor. This is what we

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Speaker 1: do when we run an action and it breaks down,

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Speaker 1: this is what we do. Like that's those are those

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Speaker 1: are in place because coaches know that you can't just

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Speaker 1: run a set every single time you go down the floor.

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Speaker 1: But when the Lakers do end up in a half

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Speaker 1: court set, or they have a good long shot clock

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Speaker 1: to work with, and Lebron, Austin and Luca are all

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Speaker 1: on the floor, the best thing you can do is

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Speaker 1: involve them all in the action in some way, shape

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Speaker 1: or form. So you'll see that a lot, and the

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Speaker 1: Lakers do do this from time to time with horn

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Speaker 1: sets right like you'll see uh, You'll see Luca like

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Speaker 1: start in the left corner and you'll see Austin bring

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Speaker 1: the ball to the floor and Lebron and Aatan will

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Speaker 1: be on the elbows and they'll run some sort of

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Speaker 1: interchange that flows into like a double drag dribble hand

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Speaker 1: off with Luca coming out of the left corner, and

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Speaker 1: it's like the reason why you want to do as

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Speaker 1: much of that stuff as possible is because most likely

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Speaker 1: with that type of action would involving Aighton, the legit

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Speaker 1: screen and roll threat. And say what you want about

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Speaker 1: eight and I've been really frustrated with him this year,

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Speaker 1: but he is a very gifted screen and roll threat.

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Speaker 1: And you add in three really high level ball handlers

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Speaker 1: that can all punish the defense in different ways. Inevitably,

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Speaker 1: when you do that, you're gonna get some kind of

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Speaker 1: advantage for one of the players. The bigger issue that

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Speaker 1: I think the Lakers have had this season, as it

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Speaker 1: pertains to their offense with all three stars on the floor,

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Speaker 1: comes down to catch and shoot play. So let's say

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Speaker 1: you run that action and Luca ends up getting downhill

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Speaker 1: as he's coming off of the screen, and as he's

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Speaker 1: coming off of the screen, he's got his advantage. Luca's working,

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Speaker 1: the defense reacts to him, and it ends up getting

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Speaker 1: swung out to let's call it Ruey Hachamura or Marcus

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Speaker 1: smart In the opposite corner, and the defense rotates to

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Speaker 1: Rui and it gets swung up the lane line to

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Speaker 1: or up the above the break line to Austin Reeves

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Speaker 1: on the right wing, and then Austin Reeves is a

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Speaker 1: good catch and shoot player, so they rotate and then

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Speaker 1: it gets swung again and there's Lebron or there's Luca,

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Speaker 1: and Lebron and Luca have not been good catch and

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Speaker 1: shoot players this year, and you know, it's it's it's

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Speaker 1: kind of a shame because one of the big reasons

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Speaker 1: why I was so excited about Lebron rejoining the team

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Speaker 1: after missing training camp, and one of the reasons why

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Speaker 1: I was so optimistic about the fit with all three

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Speaker 1: of these guys is because Lebron, for two straight years

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Speaker 1: before this was an excellent catch and shoot player, Like

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Speaker 1: if you left him open off the catch, he was

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Speaker 1: hitting like forty five percent of his open catch and

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Speaker 1: shoot threes over the last couple of seasons. And Lebron

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Speaker 1: is just having a brutally bad jump shooting season. So

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Speaker 1: I actually think that when the three guys are on

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Speaker 1: the floor, JJ Redick has done a pretty good job

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Speaker 1: of involving everybody and getting them into a set that

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Speaker 1: allows them to take advantage of their aggregate offensive talent.

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Speaker 1: But the defense has a game playing for how to

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Speaker 1: guard those actions, and they're usually going to react, which

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Speaker 1: is gonna end up in some sort of kickout situation.

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Speaker 1: And too often it's been either Marcus Martin Jake Laavia

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Speaker 1: who can't hit open threes, or when Rui's out there,

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Speaker 1: the ball get worked around and a guy like Lebron

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Speaker 1: can't hit an open three, or a guy like Luca

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Speaker 1: can't hit an open three. And you know, I think

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Speaker 1: if it was just Luca, because Austin has been a

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Speaker 1: good catch and shoot player this year, if it was

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Speaker 1: just Luca, I think it would be fine. I think

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Speaker 1: you can get away with one of those dudes not

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Speaker 1: being a great catch and shoot player. But when you

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Speaker 1: have two of those three having a bad catch and

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Speaker 1: shoot season, it makes it so that once they get

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Speaker 1: through that initial action and they get into their drive

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Speaker 1: and kick, there's just too many spots where the advantage

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Speaker 1: is dying or it's ending in a play finisher's hands

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Speaker 1: that can't actually make the shot. And so as we

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Speaker 1: talk about star Fit moving forward, I think that's a

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Speaker 1: really important detail, Like I think if you're putting three

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Speaker 1: high level offensive players together, even just two, it's ideal

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Speaker 1: if they're all really good catch and shoot players. So,

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Speaker 1: for instance, take James Harden and Donovan Mitchell. One of

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Speaker 1: the big reasons why I like that fit is James

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Speaker 1: Harden and this phase in his career is an excellent

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Speaker 1: catch and shoe player. As a big part of his

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Speaker 1: performance in the game against the Knicks in the runs

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Speaker 1: that they went on and just him capitalizing on open

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Speaker 1: catch and shoot opportunities. Right, I am incredibly excited to

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Speaker 1: tell you guys about our new partnership with Viory. Those

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Speaker 1: done so for years now, almost every single day, because

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Speaker 1: so excited about this partnership. I've actually been advocating for

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Speaker 1: this behind the scenes for a while. It's a product

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Speaker 1: started because of a very simple problem. I'd wear shirts

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Speaker 1: or five times, they would just kind of degrade and

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Speaker 1: turn into something that wasn't anything close to what I

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Speaker 1: had originally purchased. And so I wanted to invest in

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Speaker 1: quality clothing that could become my workhourse for my daily life,

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Speaker 1: Performance sweatpant that I wear around my house all the

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Speaker 1: time that's super comfortable that even now that it's cold

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Speaker 1: in Colorado and I go play basketball, I can literally

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Speaker 1: play basketball in the same sweatpants to the Sunday Performance

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Speaker 1: Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Donovan Mitchell

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Speaker 1: also a great catch and shoot player. One of the

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Speaker 1: things that's been so important with the cas is like

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Speaker 1: is Evan Mobley hitting the open catch and shoot threes

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Speaker 1: like he was at the beginning of the knixt game, right,

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Speaker 1: So like, once you get into the flow, now everybody's

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Speaker 1: a play finisher. Right. Once you're in the flow, like

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Speaker 1: we've run an action, we've created an advantage the defenses

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Speaker 1: in rotation. Everybody's a play finisher. So you better either

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Speaker 1: be a really good cutter finisher around the basket, or

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Speaker 1: you better be a dude who can knock down that

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Speaker 1: open catch and shoot three. It's like a prerequisite. I

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Speaker 1: think one of the biggest issues for the Lakers this

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Speaker 1: year is just how bad Lebron and Luca have been

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Speaker 1: as catch and shoot players. I want to actually elaborate

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Speaker 1: on this a little bit. After the Celtics game, in particular,

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Speaker 1: I saw a ton of negativity surrounding Lebron James talking

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Speaker 1: about line up data, and I think this is a

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Speaker 1: very nuanced discussion to get into, because there is some

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Speaker 1: really clear lineup data that shows, like when Luca and

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Speaker 1: Austin are on the floor without Lebron, they've been awesome,

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Speaker 1: or when Luca's been by himself, or when Austin's been

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Speaker 1: by himself, but when Lebron's been on the floor with

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Speaker 1: those guys, things haven't been as successful. There's a lot

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Speaker 1: of different things that I want to get into there.

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Speaker 1: First of all, the Luca Austin with Lebron off numbers.

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Speaker 1: Those lineups absolutely crushed. At the beginning of the season

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Speaker 1: against their weakest stretch of schedule, when Lebron was completely

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Speaker 1: out of the rotation with an injury, the Lakers were

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Speaker 1: really good. If you remember they started with an awesome record.

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Speaker 1: They won a bunch of games. Austin had big nights

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Speaker 1: with Luca out of the lineup. Luca had big nights

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Speaker 1: with Austin out of the lineup, and they just won

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Speaker 1: a bunch of games against an easy stretch of their

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Speaker 1: schedule that juiced up that lineup data. All the data

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Speaker 1: since Lebron, since Austin came back from this calf injury,

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Speaker 1: it's been dicey in most of the Lakers' lineup groups.

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Speaker 1: It's not like Luca and Austin have been absolutely crushing

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Speaker 1: and Lebron's been coming in and ruining it. In this

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Speaker 1: recent stretch two, Lebron in the units where he's been

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Speaker 1: on the floor by himself with Austin and Luca off,

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Speaker 1: have been some of the Lakers' best groups this season.

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Speaker 1: They're outscoring teams by almost six and a half points

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Speaker 1: per one hundred possessions. And that's been a huge part

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Speaker 1: of why the Lakers have such a good record because

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Speaker 1: during that stretch when Austin Reeves was out of the lineup,

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Speaker 1: there were a lot of games where late third quarter

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Speaker 1: early fourth quarter runs in Lebron James led groups were

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Speaker 1: helping the Lakers put games away and for them to win.

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Speaker 1: So I do think that it's a lot more complicated

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Speaker 1: than the data looks on its face. That said, some

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Speaker 1: of it is legitimate, Why has it been that Lebron

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Speaker 1: hasn't been as successful or productive alongside the other Stars,

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Speaker 1: and I think it comes down to two things. The

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Speaker 1: first piece is that catch and shoot piece. With those

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Speaker 1: Lebron's solo groups, Lebron's not having to take a lot

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Speaker 1: of catch and shoot looks. It's a very defensive focus

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Speaker 1: group that's playing a lot in transition and in the

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Speaker 1: open floor and in the flow in Lebron's playmaking has

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Speaker 1: been the advantage there and he's been able to drive

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Speaker 1: success in those units when he's playing off of Austin.

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Speaker 1: When he's playing off of Luca, his inability to hit

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Speaker 1: catch and shoot jump shots has been part of the problem.

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Speaker 1: And the second piece of it is defensive mistakes. All

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Speaker 1: season long, I think Lebron's having a pretty bad defensive

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Speaker 1: season in those groups. It's weird when he's playing by

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Speaker 1: himself in the groups without Austin and Luca, it's like

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Speaker 1: the entire lineup's identity centers around defense, and Lebron will

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Speaker 1: be super engaged and he's flying around, he's making all

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Speaker 1: these plays, but for some reason, when he gets on

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Speaker 1: the floor with Austin and Luca, he's been so much

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Speaker 1: more like checked out mentally on the defensive end of

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Speaker 1: the floor, and he has missed a lot of rotations,

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Speaker 1: he has missed a lot of box outs. He has

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Speaker 1: been left a lot of meat on the bone defensively

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Speaker 1: in those groups. So as we zoom out, I would

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Speaker 1: just round it out by saying, like, has Lebron been

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Speaker 1: part of the problem for these Laker groups that have

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Speaker 1: struggled with multiple stars on the floor. Yes, but he's

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Speaker 1: also been a huge part of their success this season,

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Speaker 1: leading the solo groups without Austin and Luke on the

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Speaker 1: floor at all. And I would argue most of the

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Speaker 1: issues for the Lakers are like roster wide jump shooting

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00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:32,640
Speaker 1: and athleticism issues. And so again, like when I saw

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Speaker 1: that stuff going around with Lebron yesterday, I'm like, some

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Speaker 1: of this is true, some of this is worth digging into.

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Speaker 1: Lebron definitely deserves some criticism for why some of these

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Speaker 1: lineups are struggling. But like painting the picture, like I

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Speaker 1: saw Brian Winhors say, like the Lakers have been an

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Speaker 1: excellent team when Lebron's off the floor this season, It's

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Speaker 1: like that's just not fucking true. That's like literally not true.

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Speaker 1: Like the Lakers this season, have been a mediocre team

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Speaker 1: all year outside of an awesome start to the season

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Speaker 1: against a weak schedule. I think there's a certain nuance

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Speaker 1: to the discussion around Lebron this year that's worth getting into.

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Speaker 1: Hasn't been great with the Stars, large part because of

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Speaker 1: the catch and shoot play and too many defensive mistakes.

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Speaker 1: But a huge part of the reason why the Lakers

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Speaker 1: are thirty three and twenty four or whatever it is

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Speaker 1: they are right now is are thirty four and twenty three.

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Speaker 1: A huge part of that is literally because for a

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Speaker 1: huge chunk of the season, Lebron was carrying these units

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Speaker 1: with Luca and Austin off the floor and helping them

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Speaker 1: win a lot of games. So it's just a lot

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Speaker 1: more nuanced than it looks on the surface. Next question, Hey, Jason,

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Speaker 1: I just wanted to know what makes Kate and the

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Speaker 1: Pistons different from other ball dominant ball handlers slash scores.

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Speaker 1: People are high on the Pistons and giving them a

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Speaker 1: good chance to come out of the East. Caid is

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Speaker 1: responsible for scoring or assisting on around fifty points per

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Speaker 1: game for the Pistons. What makes his style of play

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Speaker 1: more favorable for a playoff run? Instead of guys like

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Speaker 1: Luca Brunson and others. Bare down big Arizona fan like

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Speaker 1: to hear that I typically don't watch a ton of

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Speaker 1: college hoops, as you guys know, because of just how

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Speaker 1: busy the NBA season is really starting to dig in

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Speaker 1: on this Arizona team. I've watched a lot of Arizona

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Speaker 1: teams in my life that I had been good in

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Speaker 1: different ways or have had high level NBA talent on him,

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Speaker 1: like Stanley Johnson or Aaron Gordon for example, DeAndre Ayton

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Speaker 1: for example. But like this team has like the best

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Speaker 1: balance of really good guards between Jayden Bradley and Braden

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Speaker 1: Bury's and like size on the interior, but like really

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Speaker 1: good wings that can like shoot and defend. And I

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Speaker 1: just like this Arizona team a lot, Like in my

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Speaker 1: entire lifetime, this is the best I've felt about an

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Speaker 1: Arizona team and their chance to win the title. So

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Speaker 1: I'm very, very excited to watch them in this year's postseason.

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Speaker 1: I thought their win on the road in Houston was

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Speaker 1: a big character win after a couple of tough losses.

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Speaker 1: That come back against Baylor was a fun one. It's engaging,

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Speaker 1: like this part of my personality when I was a kid,

386
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Speaker 1: like Arizona basketball is a religion where I grew up

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00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:56,359
Speaker 1: in Tucson, So like it's been cool kind of getting

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00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:58,439
Speaker 1: back invested in that group. And Tommy Lloyd, I think

389
00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:00,879
Speaker 1: is a fantastic coach. I've enjoyed him way more than

390
00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:03,800
Speaker 1: I enjoyed the Sean Miller experience, so much more measured

391
00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:06,520
Speaker 1: and composed all the time, rather than like freaking the

392
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Speaker 1: fuck out and sweating through his shirt every single time

393
00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:12,520
Speaker 1: he coaches a big game. Anyway, to your question, so

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Speaker 1: I think Cade is more or less right now like

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Speaker 1: one of those ball dominant players. I don't criticize him

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Speaker 1: for it though, under the circumstances like I've seen Luca

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Speaker 1: play like that on teams that have a lot of

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Speaker 1: ball handling. Like I mean, I talked last year before

399
00:19:26,119 --> 00:19:28,840
Speaker 1: the Luca trade about how they made a handful of

400
00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:32,080
Speaker 1: deals for guys that had some more ball handling ability,

401
00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:35,080
Speaker 1: guys like Naji Marshall for example, and how like I

402
00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:38,000
Speaker 1: wanted to see them lean more into their aggregate ball

403
00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,280
Speaker 1: handling and you know Jalen Brunson for example. A big

404
00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:43,080
Speaker 1: part of why the Knicks have been better this season

405
00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:45,600
Speaker 1: is because Jaln Brunson's been getting rid of the ball earlier,

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00:19:46,119 --> 00:19:49,280
Speaker 1: more heavily indexing towards dribble penetration to break the defense down,

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00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:51,520
Speaker 1: and as a team, they're generating a lot more spot

408
00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:54,800
Speaker 1: up opportunities than they used to in previous seasons, right, So, like,

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00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:56,760
Speaker 1: to me, is a lot of it has to do

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00:19:56,800 --> 00:20:00,000
Speaker 1: with who you're playing with, and on this particular Pistons team,

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00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:02,240
Speaker 1: there's just not a lot of ball handling, and so

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Speaker 1: I think, like, really, for the way that they're put together,

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00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:08,280
Speaker 1: they kind of have to just maul teams physically on

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Speaker 1: the glass and defensively play and transition as much as possible,

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Speaker 1: and you kind of have to lean on caid heliocentric

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00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:16,919
Speaker 1: ball when he gets into the half court. But inevitably,

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00:20:16,920 --> 00:20:19,120
Speaker 1: at some point in the next few years, the Pistons

418
00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:22,040
Speaker 1: will jump on a trade opportunity for some sort of

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00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:25,159
Speaker 1: on ball player that can play alongside Cade, and that

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00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:29,000
Speaker 1: will put a higher premium on Kaide's ability to play

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Speaker 1: without the basketball and to make quicker decisions when he

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Speaker 1: has the basketball. I'm not gonna pontificate about what that

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00:20:34,359 --> 00:20:36,280
Speaker 1: looks like for kid right now, because we just haven't

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Speaker 1: really seen it yet, So as time goes by, that'll

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Speaker 1: be the key. I just talked about it in the

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Speaker 1: last segment with respect to the Lakers in Luca, like,

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Speaker 1: Luca needs to be a guy who can knock down

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Speaker 1: a catch and shoot jumper if he's going to play

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Speaker 1: alongside other stars. It's just an important part of playing

430
00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:55,720
Speaker 1: team basketball. So we'll see as the Pistons kind of

431
00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,440
Speaker 1: evolve into the future version of the team, how Caid

432
00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,080
Speaker 1: performs in more of a team come on text offensively.

433
00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:04,720
Speaker 1: I know everyone talks about how good the Spurs culture is,

434
00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:06,879
Speaker 1: but I think an underappreciated aspect of their culture is

435
00:21:06,880 --> 00:21:09,879
Speaker 1: their continuity in the front office. R C. Bufort the

436
00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:12,840
Speaker 1: GM for over twenty years during the two thousands Spurs

437
00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:15,879
Speaker 1: dynasty is still in the organization as the CEO of

438
00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:19,000
Speaker 1: basketball operations, and his protege, Brian Wright was brought up

439
00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:21,840
Speaker 1: under his mentorship and vision for the team. My question is,

440
00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:23,600
Speaker 1: do you think teams should pump the brakes more often

441
00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,800
Speaker 1: in hiring slash firing gms as missus and bad picks

442
00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:29,560
Speaker 1: are bound to happen. Ie the Spurs twenty twenty one

443
00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,360
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two drafts, but visions for a basketball team

444
00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:34,919
Speaker 1: usually take a very long time to put together. So

445
00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:38,119
Speaker 1: I agree with you in the context of, like this

446
00:21:38,160 --> 00:21:40,080
Speaker 1: stuff is hard. I was talking about that with Colin

447
00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:42,920
Speaker 1: when we were talking about the Lakers, Like there's been

448
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:46,280
Speaker 1: so many misses over the course of the Rob Polinka era.

449
00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:49,520
Speaker 1: No one's expecting him to be perfect. Like the draft

450
00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:54,600
Speaker 1: does involve a lot of like you know, mystery involving

451
00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:57,480
Speaker 1: players character and like their development trajectory and how hard

452
00:21:57,480 --> 00:21:59,720
Speaker 1: do they work, And there's so many different things. Health

453
00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:01,639
Speaker 1: is a go too. There's so many different things that

454
00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:03,879
Speaker 1: can go in so many different directions with draft picks,

455
00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:05,520
Speaker 1: Like there is a lot of up and down there.

456
00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:08,359
Speaker 1: I think you are gonna miss on a mid level

457
00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:13,240
Speaker 1: exception signing every once in a while. There's no perfection there.

458
00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:16,240
Speaker 1: Like I'm sure the Denver Nuggets, like it looked great

459
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:19,000
Speaker 1: for them to trade Michael Porter Junior for Cam Johnson.

460
00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:22,359
Speaker 1: I think if they knew that Peyton Watson was gonna

461
00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:24,360
Speaker 1: blossom into the player that he bloss him into, they

462
00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:26,840
Speaker 1: probably don't make that trade, right, But that's hindsight. There's

463
00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:29,159
Speaker 1: not a whole lot you can do there. The point being, no,

464
00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:32,800
Speaker 1: no one's perfect with this stuff, you're not expecting perfection.

465
00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:35,240
Speaker 1: The one thing I would look at when it comes

466
00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:38,480
Speaker 1: to your point to sticking with a GM for a

467
00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:41,479
Speaker 1: very long time, to me, it would be about a

468
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:48,080
Speaker 1: consistent vision and a basketball belief system that permeates from

469
00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:51,120
Speaker 1: cycle to cycle to cycle to cycle, which will lead

470
00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,080
Speaker 1: to more wins than losses. I think that is the

471
00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:56,240
Speaker 1: piece that I think is missing from a guy like

472
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:58,639
Speaker 1: a Rob Polinka, and why you need to move on

473
00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:01,320
Speaker 1: from certain gms when they don't have that vision, when

474
00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:04,280
Speaker 1: they don't seem to have a belief system that drives them,

475
00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:06,320
Speaker 1: when it seems like they're just flying by the seat

476
00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:08,600
Speaker 1: of their pants from cycle to cycle, that would be

477
00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:10,800
Speaker 1: a concern to me. But if I was an owner

478
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:13,800
Speaker 1: and I sat down with a GM and he pitched

479
00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:17,000
Speaker 1: to me what he likes in a basketball player, and

480
00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:20,359
Speaker 1: he expressed his vision for what a basketball team should

481
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:24,560
Speaker 1: look like, and then I saw his decisions constantly fall

482
00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:27,679
Speaker 1: in line with that vision, that would be something to

483
00:23:27,680 --> 00:23:29,800
Speaker 1: me that would give a GM a lot more leeway

484
00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,000
Speaker 1: with making mistakes, because, again, as you mentioned, mistakes are

485
00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:35,960
Speaker 1: part of the deal. Next question, you talked about basketball

486
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,439
Speaker 1: culture from teams like the Celtics with Joe Mizula and

487
00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:41,159
Speaker 1: Brad Stevens and the Cavs with JB. Bickerstaff. I was

488
00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:43,560
Speaker 1: wondering if you could make a tier list or quick

489
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:46,320
Speaker 1: rankings of the best basketball cultures in the league. I

490
00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:48,159
Speaker 1: know might take longer than the average question, or it

491
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:50,000
Speaker 1: might be more of an off season topic, but it

492
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:52,480
Speaker 1: would be a fun topic to dive into. This would

493
00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:54,440
Speaker 1: be a fun one to dive into with more detail

494
00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:56,040
Speaker 1: in the off season, but I just wanted to really

495
00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:57,959
Speaker 1: quickly give you my list of what I think are

496
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:02,400
Speaker 1: the five best basketball cultures in the one Oklahoma City. Again,

497
00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:05,240
Speaker 1: the big driver here is you're seeing a specific type

498
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:10,080
Speaker 1: of player repeatedly get found this like scrappy, super competitive,

499
00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:11,920
Speaker 1: like I remember I was talking with Sam Bessini about

500
00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:14,320
Speaker 1: this as it pertains to j Dubb like he just

501
00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:16,800
Speaker 1: was a guy that they were so into because of

502
00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:20,680
Speaker 1: his personality and his competitiveness and what drove him. That's

503
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,480
Speaker 1: the kind of thing that will actually lead to players

504
00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:26,280
Speaker 1: fitting into what Mark Dagnault's trying to build in a

505
00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:30,480
Speaker 1: defensive culture. There is a consistent type of personality in

506
00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:33,080
Speaker 1: basketball player that Oklahoma City continues to try to find

507
00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:35,520
Speaker 1: Boston once it's been too much time here. We talked

508
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:37,520
Speaker 1: about them in detail over the last couple of days,

509
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,159
Speaker 1: but I think Joe Missoula has built a culture and

510
00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:43,439
Speaker 1: accountability surrounding the way that he wants to play that

511
00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:47,120
Speaker 1: has made him be able to get quality rotation players

512
00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:52,000
Speaker 1: from all sorts of types of discount opportunities on the margins.

513
00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,359
Speaker 1: Miami this is a team that, like again if you

514
00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:59,000
Speaker 1: really dig into it, that hasn't had star level talent

515
00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:02,080
Speaker 1: close to what you've seen around the rest of the league,

516
00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:07,280
Speaker 1: and yet they routinely find undrafted, discounted players in the

517
00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:09,880
Speaker 1: margins that can play like dead serious minutes for them

518
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:12,280
Speaker 1: because they have such a strong basketball culture driven by

519
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:15,840
Speaker 1: pat Riley and Eric Spolstra. For Golden State, exact same

520
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,200
Speaker 1: thing seemingly every season this year, Will Richard, last season,

521
00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:22,200
Speaker 1: Gi Santo's. Every year they seem to just find guys

522
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,679
Speaker 1: on the margins that fit their basketball culture because they

523
00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:27,800
Speaker 1: have a clear way that they want to play, a

524
00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:30,480
Speaker 1: clear player that they like, and they continue to find

525
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:34,760
Speaker 1: that kind of guy. And then lastly, the Memphis Grizzlies similarly,

526
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,960
Speaker 1: like I mean, this entire era blew up literally because

527
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,639
Speaker 1: John Morant was a bust a player that in twenty

528
00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:44,480
Speaker 1: twenty two looked destined for superstardom and then instead just

529
00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,119
Speaker 1: got worse every single year and had behavioral issues and

530
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:50,960
Speaker 1: health issues, and that ended up causing Memphis to go

531
00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:53,720
Speaker 1: full rebuild. But almost everybody I talked to in the

532
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:56,560
Speaker 1: league that covers the league or that knows talks about

533
00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:58,840
Speaker 1: how Memphis has one of the strongest basketball cultures in

534
00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:02,240
Speaker 1: the NBA. They similarly find all sorts of dudes that

535
00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:07,400
Speaker 1: you know, like Vince Williams Junior, for example, just scrappy, smart,

536
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:12,199
Speaker 1: high IQ, versatile wings and perimeter players that can do

537
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:14,200
Speaker 1: all sorts of good and so many different facets of

538
00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,359
Speaker 1: the game. They're a team that I think has a

539
00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:19,000
Speaker 1: specific type of guy that they like as well. And

540
00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:20,760
Speaker 1: if they had just hit on a star, like if

541
00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:23,280
Speaker 1: John Moran had just followed his trajectory through to fruition,

542
00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:25,800
Speaker 1: I think we're still looking at a John Morant, Desmond Bain,

543
00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:29,159
Speaker 1: and Jared Jackson led group that's super talented and is

544
00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:30,920
Speaker 1: doing a lot of damage in the upper part of

545
00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,760
Speaker 1: the Western Conference. Today's show is brought to you by

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569
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576
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578
00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:06,679
Speaker 1: time favorite duos you'd like to see play together? If

579
00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:08,879
Speaker 1: you of mine are Stephan, Kevin Garnett, d Wade and

580
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:12,520
Speaker 1: Dirk Kawhi and Scottie Pippen. So I'm gonna give you

581
00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:16,520
Speaker 1: guys three mainly based on the modern generation. I always

582
00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,359
Speaker 1: wanted to see Lebron and Steph play together. I was

583
00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:21,040
Speaker 1: lucky enough to get to see it in person in

584
00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:23,400
Speaker 1: Vegas when I was there for Summer League, the year

585
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:27,880
Speaker 1: of the Olympics, speck in what was that twenty twenty four.

586
00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:31,200
Speaker 1: I just think the two of them, if you look

587
00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:34,120
Speaker 1: at how good Steph has been with Draymond, I imagine

588
00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:36,119
Speaker 1: how good Steph would have been with like Lebron if

589
00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:37,639
Speaker 1: they were both in their primes, Like if they were

590
00:28:37,640 --> 00:28:39,520
Speaker 1: playing to like in the same way that Stephan kd

591
00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:43,040
Speaker 1: played together. Imagine if Stephan Lebron played together in that era.

592
00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:46,120
Speaker 1: I just think there's a a such a natural, like

593
00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:49,480
Speaker 1: complimentary element to both of their games, because Lebron is

594
00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:53,640
Speaker 1: such a good like screening, passing, folkrum and a guy

595
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:55,960
Speaker 1: that brings a lot of the things that Steph doesn't

596
00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:59,400
Speaker 1: bring in terms of power in around the basket and

597
00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,239
Speaker 1: defensive versatility. I just think those two would have been

598
00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:05,320
Speaker 1: wonderful together. Trey Young and Yannis these are two that

599
00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:07,360
Speaker 1: I've talked a lot about over the last couple of years,

600
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,200
Speaker 1: because I think there was something interesting to dig into

601
00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 1: there with Damon Giannis in terms of like a small,

602
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:15,400
Speaker 1: super skilled guard with Yannis, but I just don't think

603
00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,280
Speaker 1: Dame was the playmaker that you needed to really maximize

604
00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:20,360
Speaker 1: that partnership. Trey Young, I think is one of the

605
00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:22,120
Speaker 1: very best passers in the NBA, and I think he

606
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:24,680
Speaker 1: would have been really fun with Gianness. I'm personally very

607
00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:26,920
Speaker 1: excited to watch him play with Anthony Davis. I'm hoping

608
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,480
Speaker 1: that they can be healthy for at least a little bit. Lastly,

609
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:31,120
Speaker 1: I'm gonna come out of left field with this one.

610
00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:32,480
Speaker 1: I think it would have been really fun to watch

611
00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:36,120
Speaker 1: Yo Kitchen Aunt play together. Two reasons that I want

612
00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:38,800
Speaker 1: to get into there. One, Yo Kich is a spacing

613
00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:42,480
Speaker 1: inverter that pulls rim protectors away from the basket. Ant

614
00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:45,120
Speaker 1: has always played with a clogged paint. I think Aunt

615
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:47,680
Speaker 1: as a basket attacker would have been really fun with

616
00:29:47,760 --> 00:29:50,320
Speaker 1: a guy that can vacate the paint. And Then two,

617
00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:53,720
Speaker 1: if there's one thing with Ant that like leaves you

618
00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:57,000
Speaker 1: wanting more, it's just that playmaking feel. And I think

619
00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,600
Speaker 1: it would have been really fun to watch Ant's career

620
00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:03,240
Speaker 1: develop if you would have played alongside Jokic, because Jokic

621
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:05,400
Speaker 1: would have helped him see and understand that part of

622
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:06,800
Speaker 1: the game at a higher level. I think the two

623
00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 1: of them would have been really fun. All right. Three

624
00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:12,480
Speaker 1: more quick ones. Do you think officiating has gotten worse

625
00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:16,040
Speaker 1: or better over the twenty twenties. I do think most

626
00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:18,800
Speaker 1: of the issues are from players finding advantages and optimizing

627
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:21,720
Speaker 1: their game through fabating and such, and the overall watching

628
00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:24,600
Speaker 1: experience is still excellent. But the reason pushes by the league,

629
00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:26,120
Speaker 1: I think it's just made the game less fun and

630
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:29,240
Speaker 1: less basketball ly. In my opinion, basketball can be both

631
00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:31,760
Speaker 1: a finesse and a brute for sport, but the recent

632
00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:34,280
Speaker 1: officiating is a weird mix between the two. If you're

633
00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,360
Speaker 1: off ball, it's basically a lawless jungle of moving screens

634
00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:39,480
Speaker 1: and wrestling, But if you get into a shooting motion,

635
00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:42,920
Speaker 1: you're suddenly playing netball. It's the worst of both extremes,

636
00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:46,320
Speaker 1: in my opinion. Very well put, very very fun mail

637
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:50,360
Speaker 1: back question. I don't think officiating has gotten worse. I

638
00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:54,600
Speaker 1: think it's gotten way harder as of late, because specifically

639
00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:58,240
Speaker 1: this fabating piece, the falbating has always been a part

640
00:30:58,240 --> 00:31:00,280
Speaker 1: of the game. Like we've all seen Kobe Bryant throw

641
00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:02,120
Speaker 1: three pump fakes and then get a guy off the

642
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:05,320
Speaker 1: ground and draw fout Kevin Durant obviously with the rip

643
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:07,920
Speaker 1: through a move fifteen years ago, right, Like we've seen

644
00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,920
Speaker 1: foul grifting be part of the NBA. But it has

645
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:13,760
Speaker 1: become an art form, and it's become an art form

646
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 1: just like anything. In the same way that Steph Curry

647
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:19,000
Speaker 1: came along and brought pull up three point shooting to

648
00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:21,200
Speaker 1: a level that suddenly every single good guard in the

649
00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:24,280
Speaker 1: league is an excellent pull up three point shooter. Similarly,

650
00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:28,600
Speaker 1: the level of foul grifting in the NBA has become

651
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:30,720
Speaker 1: such an art form that there are so many players

652
00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,480
Speaker 1: that are so good at it, and that has just

653
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:35,600
Speaker 1: made the job really difficult. I don't think it's an

654
00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:38,680
Speaker 1: excuse like I think. I think really the league just

655
00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:41,400
Speaker 1: needs to step in and give these these guys leeway.

656
00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:44,520
Speaker 1: There's this concern about following the letter of the law.

657
00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:47,760
Speaker 1: Officials need to be given some more ground to make

658
00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 1: subjective decisions as it as it pertains to foulgrifting. I've

659
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:53,520
Speaker 1: talked about this. I think it's the simplest solution in

660
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:56,240
Speaker 1: the world. I just call it the non basketball play rule.

661
00:31:57,040 --> 00:31:59,560
Speaker 1: If a player ever does anything that is a non

662
00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:04,640
Speaker 1: basketball I'd include low gathers. I'd include like weird jump

663
00:32:04,640 --> 00:32:07,320
Speaker 1: shot releases where you either jump super far forward or

664
00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:10,200
Speaker 1: you jump sideways into somebody. I'd do any sort of

665
00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:13,280
Speaker 1: like arm grabbing, or arm fighting, like any sort of

666
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:17,160
Speaker 1: not like, what is the goal of an offensive player offensively,

667
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:20,600
Speaker 1: It is to get away from a defender, to create

668
00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:24,320
Speaker 1: their own shot, or to power through a defender to

669
00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:26,680
Speaker 1: get all the way to the rim. The one thing

670
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:29,760
Speaker 1: you should never be doing is going into a defender

671
00:32:30,280 --> 00:32:33,880
Speaker 1: to strictly try to like literally get into some kind

672
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 1: of jump shot like that literally makes no sense. And

673
00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:40,720
Speaker 1: if you are powering through a defender, like if your job,

674
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:44,000
Speaker 1: if your goal is to go through a guy, then

675
00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:45,800
Speaker 1: he should be allowed to hit you a little bit

676
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,880
Speaker 1: because you're hitting him. It's your point about the brute

677
00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:54,160
Speaker 1: force versus finesse. The finesse game is about separation, not contact.

678
00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:57,440
Speaker 1: The finesse game is about separation, and the brute force

679
00:32:57,560 --> 00:33:00,640
Speaker 1: part is about brute force. So if you make a

680
00:33:00,720 --> 00:33:03,640
Speaker 1: brute force play, a defender should be able to meet

681
00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:06,920
Speaker 1: you with brute force. And if you make a finesse play,

682
00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:09,240
Speaker 1: you should be trying to get away from a defender,

683
00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:12,000
Speaker 1: not getting into a defender. So if a player made

684
00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:15,760
Speaker 1: some sort of finesse play into a defender, that is

685
00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:18,920
Speaker 1: a non basketball play. And anytime any sort of non

686
00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:22,600
Speaker 1: basketball play happens, it should be whistle turnover going the

687
00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:25,000
Speaker 1: other way, and I shit you not. If they did

688
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,320
Speaker 1: it for two weeks to start a season, it would

689
00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:29,920
Speaker 1: be out of the league because these guys ultimately are

690
00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:32,760
Speaker 1: doing it because they're trying to drive up their numbers,

691
00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:35,440
Speaker 1: and if they were driving up their numbers in turnovers

692
00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,760
Speaker 1: rather than in points, it would be something that would

693
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:42,160
Speaker 1: lead to a change in the way the game is played.

694
00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:44,600
Speaker 1: From these guys, they would adjust immediately. Do it for

695
00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:46,800
Speaker 1: two weeks, You'd still occasionally have to make a call

696
00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:50,000
Speaker 1: here or there, but ultimately everybody would make the adjustment.

697
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:53,960
Speaker 1: When you go play pickup, do you ever pump fake

698
00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:56,160
Speaker 1: and then deliberately jump into the guy and shoot. No,

699
00:33:56,320 --> 00:33:58,360
Speaker 1: because the best thing you're getting is checking up at

700
00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:00,920
Speaker 1: the top of the key. Right. You will do is

701
00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:04,520
Speaker 1: you'll try to step back to get separation so you

702
00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:08,000
Speaker 1: can shoot over the top right. That's kind of the

703
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:10,560
Speaker 1: way I'm looking at it, like your goal as an

704
00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:13,600
Speaker 1: offensive player should be to create your own shot, not

705
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:17,600
Speaker 1: to create contact unless you are trying to power through

706
00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:19,840
Speaker 1: a player to get to the basket. Oh, Jason, but

707
00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:22,000
Speaker 1: what about guys that are applying tons of ball pressure.

708
00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:24,920
Speaker 1: When they're applying tons of ball pressure. You have to

709
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:27,320
Speaker 1: grift to get the refs to get them to loosen

710
00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:30,080
Speaker 1: up on that sort of thing. No, meet it with power,

711
00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:33,000
Speaker 1: that's what that is. Where it's a brute force game,

712
00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:36,359
Speaker 1: they're meeting you with that. I want off arms and pushoffs.

713
00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:39,400
Speaker 1: I'd rather have a league where dudes are ball pressuring

714
00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:41,719
Speaker 1: like crazy and the on ball players are using their

715
00:34:41,719 --> 00:34:43,799
Speaker 1: off arm and pushing off to get away from them

716
00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:47,120
Speaker 1: than a league where they're towerking for fouls. That ultimately

717
00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:48,680
Speaker 1: is what we need to fix in order to make

718
00:34:48,680 --> 00:34:51,840
Speaker 1: the television product better. Max and Austin would be a

719
00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:55,440
Speaker 1: horrific mistake. You could argue he's maybe as impactful personally.

720
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:58,880
Speaker 1: Heavily disagree. But besides the point, as Aaron Gordon, Derek White,

721
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:03,440
Speaker 1: that's a from the comment, as Aaron Gordon, Derek White

722
00:35:03,600 --> 00:35:05,520
Speaker 1: to your players, But he's up for twenty five percent

723
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:07,680
Speaker 1: of the cat versus White and Gordon's eighteen to twenty.

724
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:09,560
Speaker 1: Got to pinch some pennies when you need to pay

725
00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:11,239
Speaker 1: for two way players to make up for Austin and

726
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,640
Speaker 1: Lucas shortcomings on defense. Lakers still need a competent center

727
00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:17,120
Speaker 1: and everyone thinks their role players are lacking as it is.

728
00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:21,520
Speaker 1: So here's the trick. Matt Austin's gonna get his MAX

729
00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:25,040
Speaker 1: because he's just too good of a player. When you're

730
00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:27,719
Speaker 1: talking about a guy who as a shot creator this

731
00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:30,080
Speaker 1: season has been among the best in the league, who's

732
00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:32,720
Speaker 1: averaging twenty five points per game on a super insane

733
00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:35,120
Speaker 1: level of efficiency, who every time he runs a pick

734
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,560
Speaker 1: and roller and iso is generating well over a point

735
00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:41,279
Speaker 1: per possession including passes, there's a level of aggregate like

736
00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:45,000
Speaker 1: when you combine his scoring and playmaking talent, he's just

737
00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:47,120
Speaker 1: doing something that very few players in the league are doing.

738
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:50,520
Speaker 1: He's just worth a MAX. Secondly, as it pertains to

739
00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:52,920
Speaker 1: the point you're making about pinching pennies and building a

740
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,400
Speaker 1: roster for the Lakers, you have to think of Austin

741
00:35:55,440 --> 00:35:58,080
Speaker 1: more as an asset than anything else. Like if you

742
00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:01,520
Speaker 1: let him walk, you get no But if you MAXI

743
00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:03,680
Speaker 1: him and then like a year from now, it looks

744
00:36:03,719 --> 00:36:06,279
Speaker 1: like he's not a great fit with Luca. Austin's the

745
00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:08,640
Speaker 1: kind of player you're you're gonna be able to trade

746
00:36:08,680 --> 00:36:12,319
Speaker 1: and get something for him, Like if Desmond Baane is

747
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:15,880
Speaker 1: gonna go to the Orlando Magic for three first round picks.

748
00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:18,319
Speaker 1: You don't think Austin Reeves is gonna be able to

749
00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:21,359
Speaker 1: fetch a certain amount of draft return even if he's

750
00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:24,200
Speaker 1: making a higher salary. Literally, first of all, the cap

751
00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:26,239
Speaker 1: is going up every single year with the new TV deal.

752
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:29,960
Speaker 1: So like Austin signed this summer within three years when

753
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:32,880
Speaker 1: all the the tiered kind of cap increases finished, like

754
00:36:32,880 --> 00:36:34,960
Speaker 1: this is year one of the new TV deal. Like,

755
00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:37,800
Speaker 1: by the time all of this stuff gets finished, Austin's

756
00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:40,400
Speaker 1: salary is not gonna be some sort of cap breaking

757
00:36:40,440 --> 00:36:43,839
Speaker 1: type of salary. And you sign him, you see, if

758
00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:45,719
Speaker 1: he fits with Luca, you see if you can build

759
00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:48,560
Speaker 1: around him, you move him for a Giannis if it

760
00:36:48,600 --> 00:36:51,759
Speaker 1: comes around right. But if it works out and you're like,

761
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:53,520
Speaker 1: oh man, I'm not sure this makes a lot of

762
00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:57,320
Speaker 1: sense alongside Luca, you trade Austin and you're gonna be

763
00:36:57,360 --> 00:36:59,759
Speaker 1: able to you keep him because he's the asset, and

764
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:01,640
Speaker 1: he's to get twenty five percent of the cap because

765
00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:03,640
Speaker 1: that's just what he's worth, because he's played that well.

766
00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:08,200
Speaker 1: He's played himself into that tier of salary. Last question,

767
00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:11,560
Speaker 1: considering the recent yet sustained surge by the Hornets, which

768
00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:14,359
Speaker 1: I attest primarily to con being implemented in opening up

769
00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:16,799
Speaker 1: the floor. B Mills and Mussa taking a big leap.

770
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:18,760
Speaker 1: Totally agree. Those are the three guys that are driving

771
00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:21,719
Speaker 1: the sleep, all mixed with Charles Lee's modern coaching. Do

772
00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:23,560
Speaker 1: you think it's still worth treating those three as the

773
00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:27,399
Speaker 1: building blocks and selling LaMelo plus bridges relatively high after

774
00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:30,719
Speaker 1: the season and fully enhancing this new regime by rekindling

775
00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:32,880
Speaker 1: assets further and making a strong move at the twenty

776
00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:35,640
Speaker 1: twenty six draft. Two strong drafts in a row could

777
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:38,360
Speaker 1: change the franchise long term. Let me know your thoughts

778
00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:40,919
Speaker 1: and love the show. This is an interesting question because

779
00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:42,800
Speaker 1: on the one hand, when I watched the Hornets, you

780
00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:45,160
Speaker 1: guys know, I'm not a big LaMelo fan. There's a

781
00:37:45,239 --> 00:37:48,400
Speaker 1: general attitude, seriousness thing with him that drives me crazy.

782
00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:51,120
Speaker 1: Even as an on ball player. He's just so quick

783
00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:53,600
Speaker 1: to settle for that step back three, which he's like, Okay,

784
00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:55,640
Speaker 1: he's a good at but he's not like Steph Curry

785
00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:57,640
Speaker 1: at and you don't want to be taking that volume

786
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:00,000
Speaker 1: of step back three unless you're really really good at

787
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:03,040
Speaker 1: at it, And so like, he's not my favorite player.

788
00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:05,520
Speaker 1: But as much as I've watched the hornets in this

789
00:38:05,600 --> 00:38:08,640
Speaker 1: run be really really good. More often than not, when

790
00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:11,320
Speaker 1: things slow down from the half court, they need LaMelo

791
00:38:11,440 --> 00:38:13,960
Speaker 1: to break the defense down. To me, Brandon Miller is

792
00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:17,480
Speaker 1: very much your classic scoring forward that ideally is in

793
00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:20,920
Speaker 1: number two. Konk Nipple is very much your traditional skill

794
00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:24,839
Speaker 1: guard off ball guard kind of vibe. Right, you need

795
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:27,600
Speaker 1: a guy that can run twenty pick and rolls a game,

796
00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:31,400
Speaker 1: and right now, that's LaMelo, and more often than not

797
00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:33,880
Speaker 1: they lean on him for that role, and you need that.

798
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:36,919
Speaker 1: Like when we talk about like feeling responsibilities on both

799
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:38,680
Speaker 1: ends of the floor, Like there's boxes you have to

800
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:41,200
Speaker 1: check right. On defense, there's point of attack defense for

801
00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:45,040
Speaker 1: various different kinds of position groups like rim protector, slash,

802
00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:48,400
Speaker 1: you know, pick and roll defenders, low man, help side defenders.

803
00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:50,359
Speaker 1: Like there's all these different things that you're looking at

804
00:38:50,719 --> 00:38:53,839
Speaker 1: as checking boxes defensively, similarly on offense, like I want

805
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:55,640
Speaker 1: to scoring forward. I want a guy that can attack

806
00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:57,399
Speaker 1: matchups and that can do a lot of work as

807
00:38:57,400 --> 00:38:59,560
Speaker 1: a three level score right, Like I'd love to have

808
00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:01,800
Speaker 1: a skill guard, a guy who can take movement threes

809
00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:05,520
Speaker 1: and can run second side action and you know, basically

810
00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:08,720
Speaker 1: just function as a like a guy who's always playing

811
00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:11,040
Speaker 1: with an advantage, right, Like I want to screen and

812
00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:12,799
Speaker 1: roll threat a guy who's like the guy I'm running

813
00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:14,600
Speaker 1: most of my pick and rolls with. I want spot

814
00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:17,120
Speaker 1: up shooters that can drive closeouts, or guys who can

815
00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:20,000
Speaker 1: cut along the baseline and create space that way. Like

816
00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:22,640
Speaker 1: I want all those things, but there's also another one.

817
00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:24,600
Speaker 1: There's a big box, and it's like, who's the guy

818
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:28,239
Speaker 1: that's like creating my initial advantage for the majority of

819
00:39:28,280 --> 00:39:31,319
Speaker 1: my possessions, my offensive engine, so to speak. And when

820
00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:33,160
Speaker 1: you have a Brandon Miller and a kan Ka Nipple,

821
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:36,280
Speaker 1: you don't need Luca. You don't need some earth shattering

822
00:39:36,320 --> 00:39:39,200
Speaker 1: offensive engine, but you do need a primary on ball guard.

823
00:39:39,239 --> 00:39:42,239
Speaker 1: And so like my thing is like LaMelo is not

824
00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:45,000
Speaker 1: the perfect guy, but he does fill a very important role.

825
00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 1: And so if you get rid of LaMelo, you just

826
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:49,520
Speaker 1: have to have some kind of plan to fill that role,

827
00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:52,280
Speaker 1: whether it's through the draft or it's moving draft picks

828
00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:55,600
Speaker 1: to acquire a player through trade. But they need to

829
00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:59,840
Speaker 1: find some sort of like non ball dominant, quick to

830
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,840
Speaker 1: decision making guy that can run that initial action and

831
00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:05,440
Speaker 1: help them get into their sets every single time down

832
00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:07,040
Speaker 1: the floor. All right, guys, It's all I have for

833
00:40:07,080 --> 00:40:09,240
Speaker 1: today is always a sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting

834
00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:11,440
Speaker 1: us and supporting the show. I hope everybody has an

835
00:40:11,440 --> 00:40:14,240
Speaker 1: incredible weekend. We'll be back on Monday for Power rankings.

836
00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:15,239
Speaker 1: I will see you guys then