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Speaker 2: to Hoops Tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Tuesday, everybody. Oh,
Speaker 2: all of you guys are having a great week so far.
Speaker 2: We are continuing our player rankings today with number seventeen
Speaker 2: and number sixteen. You guys know the drip before we
Speaker 2: get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels. You
Speaker 2: don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on
Speaker 2: Twitter at underscore JCNLTS. You guys don't miss showing bounce Man.
Speaker 2: Don't forget about a podcast feed where if you get
Speaker 2: your podcast in our Hoops Tonight, don't forget And it's
Speaker 2: helpful if you leave a rating and a review on
Speaker 2: that front and then keep dropping mailbag questions in those
Speaker 2: YouTube comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the
Speaker 2: remainder of the summer. Again at the tail end of
Speaker 2: today's show, now that I'm back from vacation and we've
Speaker 2: had our player rankings videos out on the feed for
Speaker 2: a while, I took a bunch of mail bag questions
Speaker 2: from the first three videos where you guys argued against
Speaker 2: my rankings, and we're gonna go back and forth a
Speaker 2: little bit. That's gonna be the format throughout the rest
Speaker 2: of this list. It's gonna be a couple of players
Speaker 2: and then mail bag kind of argument style. At the
Speaker 2: tail end of the show, I had a couple of
Speaker 2: people talking about how it's kind of weird how we
Speaker 2: only have two or three players in each videos. In
Speaker 2: each video, to be honest, it's just about filling time
Speaker 2: in the summer. There's no rush here. It's August twentieth.
Speaker 2: We've got like another month and a half before we
Speaker 2: even get training camp opening up, or a little less
Speaker 2: than a month and a half, and so we've got
Speaker 2: some time to kill. And so we're gonna spend a
Speaker 2: good chunk of that at the tail end of September
Speaker 2: going through some of our season previews. But in the meantime,
Speaker 2: we got some time to kill over the next couple
Speaker 2: of weeks. So I'd rather talk about something that I
Speaker 2: find really interesting, which is player ranking, instead of going
Speaker 2: into something else that I don't find is interesting. And
Speaker 2: I'd rather just get more in depth with it and
Speaker 2: have more arguments with you guys, have it more interactive
Speaker 2: and things along those lines. So we're gonna be kind
Speaker 2: of just taking a few players a day and then
Speaker 2: we'll argue about it at the end, and then we'll
Speaker 2: move on until we get to the end of the list.
Speaker 2: Today we start the beginning of a new tier. Now,
Speaker 2: if you guys, remember I, as I did my kind
Speaker 2: of like intro in the first video, I view everybody
Speaker 2: on this list in four tiers. The top tier is
Speaker 2: like your top tier superstars. These guys are guys that
Speaker 2: I project to be perennial MVP candidates moving forward. Okay,
Speaker 2: then there's the second tier or second tier superstars. These
Speaker 2: are guys who can look like the top tier superstars
Speaker 2: on any given night, but each of them have an
Speaker 2: issue maintaining of that level of play. Whether it's because
Speaker 2: of age, or it's because of health, or maybe it's
Speaker 2: just something having to do with their mentality. Regardless of
Speaker 2: what it is, that group of guys they can look
Speaker 2: like MVP candidate type of players. You know, maybe half
Speaker 2: the year, maybe a third of the year or whatever
Speaker 2: it is, but they just struggle to remain at that
Speaker 2: level the way the guys at the very top do.
Speaker 2: The third tier is what we're starting today, and we're
Speaker 2: gonna get more into that in a second. These are
Speaker 2: players that can be the best player on a championship
Speaker 2: team but need an overwhelming amount of support. And then
Speaker 2: the last tier, which is all the players we did
Speaker 2: leading into today, ending with that bam at a bio
Speaker 2: in Victor women Yama video the other day. These are
Speaker 2: guys that aren't good enough to be the best player
Speaker 2: on championship teams yet, either because they're too specialized like
Speaker 2: Bam as a defensive specialist, or guys like Dame and
Speaker 2: Kyrie as kind of like small guards that struggle to
Speaker 2: impact the game as athletes, or they're too young, like
Speaker 2: a guy like Victor wen Minyama especially, but or Tyre's
Speaker 2: Halliburton I think kind of fits that bill a little
Speaker 2: bit as well, Tyres Maxy as well. Those guys all
Speaker 2: have shots to move especially of the young players have
Speaker 2: shots to move up the list in the long run,
Speaker 2: especially Victor. I think Victor could be a top ten
Speaker 2: player even sooner. I have a lot of people that
Speaker 2: have criticized how low I have him on the list.
Speaker 2: We're gonna get more into that in the mail bag.
Speaker 2: I don't want to do it right now. But again,
Speaker 2: like that last tier of guys, those are all guys
Speaker 2: that are not capable of being the best player on
Speaker 2: a champion championship team. This next phase of the list,
Speaker 2: these are guys who I do view that can be
Speaker 2: the best player on a championship team. They just need
Speaker 2: an overwhelming amount of support. So, without any further ado,
Speaker 2: let's get into it with number seventeen. Donovan Mitchell last
Speaker 2: season played fifty five games. He also missed two playoff games,
Speaker 2: so availability was definitely a little bit of an issue.
Speaker 2: Last year for Donovan, he averaged twenty six point six
Speaker 2: points per game, five point one rebounds per game, and
Speaker 2: six point one assists per game as one of the
Speaker 2: best passing season of his career, which we're gonna get
Speaker 2: more into here in a little bit. He also averaged
Speaker 2: two point three stocks per game. This was Donnie Mitchell's
Speaker 2: best defensive season of his career. He really found a
Speaker 2: way to impact winning without having to be kind of
Speaker 2: on the ball right. Now, he did have some on
Speaker 2: ball reps and he was very very aggressive on the ball.
Speaker 2: He got a lot of steels. This was a guy
Speaker 2: that kind of weaponized his athleticism in a very aggressive
Speaker 2: sense on the ball. But where he really found a
Speaker 2: defensive role for Cleveland was off the ball, and one
Speaker 2: of his best traits is his athleticism, right, and so
Speaker 2: what he found that kind of worked for him was
Speaker 2: his ability to dig down into the lane, meaning like
Speaker 2: if he's guarding a guy on the left wing and
Speaker 2: someone's driving on the right wing, he will sink down
Speaker 2: to the nail and swipe down at the basketball. But
Speaker 2: he also has this speed and the ability to stop
Speaker 2: on a dime and change direction to close out to
Speaker 2: shooters from there. And so he actually had a really
Speaker 2: useful role in the Cleveland defense as an off ball
Speaker 2: defender is the guy he would dig down into the
Speaker 2: lane and then recover out to shooters. Now, obviously he
Speaker 2: could get a little over aggressive sometimes, especially on the ball,
Speaker 2: and he makes he made some mistakes, but I thought
Speaker 2: this was a big step forward for him on the
Speaker 2: defensive end of the floor. Last year in Cleveland. He
Speaker 2: was one of only three players in the league last
Speaker 2: year Donovan Mitchell to average at least twenty five points
Speaker 2: per game and at least one point five steals per game.
Speaker 2: I thought that was a surprise. The first two guys
Speaker 2: you won't be surprised to Shae Gilders, Alexander and Deer
Speaker 2: and Fox. But the third guy to make that list
Speaker 2: was Donovan Mitchell. So shout out to don for the
Speaker 2: best defensive season of his career. His shooting splits. He
Speaker 2: shot forty six point two percent from the field, thirty
Speaker 2: six point eight percent from three, eighty six point five
Speaker 2: percent from the line. That amounted to fifty four point
Speaker 2: five percent in effective field goal percentage. That's just field
Speaker 2: goal percentage weighted for threes, and then fifty nine point
Speaker 2: five percent true shooting, which includes free throws as well,
Speaker 2: which is really really good. So a nice efficient scoring
Speaker 2: season for Donovan Mitchell. Some shooting stats from Synergy. His
Speaker 2: jump shot he got one point zero six points per shot.
Speaker 2: He was especially effective off the catch. He got at
Speaker 2: one point one four points per shot off the catch
Speaker 2: in jump shooting situations one point one seven points per
Speaker 2: shot when guarded one point zero nine when he's open.
Speaker 2: I found this interesting. Guys that like really elevate on
Speaker 2: their shot, they actually tend to shoot a little bit
Speaker 2: better when they're contested. And the main reason why is
Speaker 2: they elevate really high on those kinds of shots. A
Speaker 2: lot of times those kinds of players, when they find
Speaker 2: themselves open, try to kind of relax a little bit
Speaker 2: and don't jump as high, and that actually can end
Speaker 2: up affecting their ability to knock down shots. And I
Speaker 2: always think that's funny when you see guys like Donovan,
Speaker 2: like really athletic shooters who are actually a little bit
Speaker 2: more efficient off when they're when they're getting contested versus
Speaker 2: when they're wide open. He was excellent off the dribble.
Speaker 2: He got one point zero three points per shot. That's
Speaker 2: forty percent overall and field goal percentage and fifty two
Speaker 2: percent when you weait it for three, So really good
Speaker 2: pull up shooting shot a really good forty seven point
Speaker 2: four percent on long twos outside of seventeen feet and
Speaker 2: then forty seven percent on short pull up twos inside
Speaker 2: of seventeen feet. So dal I me ar fifty percent
Speaker 2: on those pull up mid range jump shots that became
Speaker 2: a really useful shot for him here In the last
Speaker 2: couple of seasons, he had a decent floater shot, just
Speaker 2: forty two percent on them, took about two per game.
Speaker 2: Obviously not as good as some of his peers around
Speaker 2: the league, but that's a decent enough. But he was
Speaker 2: excellent going to the rim. For a guard his size,
Speaker 2: he shot sixty one percent at the rim, including sixty
Speaker 2: percent on layups. Usually small guards they're in the mid
Speaker 2: to low fifties when you get into that layup range,
Speaker 2: just because they're shooting over trees all the time. But
Speaker 2: he was super efficient and high volume. He got three
Speaker 2: point four restricted area makes per game. Among players in
Speaker 2: the league that are below six ' five, only Tyrese
Speaker 2: Maxi and John Morant, who only played in nine games,
Speaker 2: had more restricted area makes per game than Donovan. Mitchell
Speaker 2: series one of the best guys at getting to the rim,
Speaker 2: and like, honestly the main thing that stood out to me.
Speaker 2: I went back and watched a bunch of his drives
Speaker 2: in when I was watching film on him yesterday, and like,
Speaker 2: his footwork going to the basket is just absurd. His
Speaker 2: ability to quick euro right to left or left to
Speaker 2: right it this left to right euro on Devin Booker
Speaker 2: that set Devin Booker flying into the stanchion and complaining
Speaker 2: at the refs, and as Donovan's just making an easy
Speaker 2: right handed layup on the right side of the rim,
Speaker 2: and it was just an absurd move considering how fast
Speaker 2: he was going downhill to then plant that left foot
Speaker 2: and almost like kind of cut his speed and get
Speaker 2: back to the right as Devin Booker was overreacting to
Speaker 2: that left side and went flying. It's just an unbelievable
Speaker 2: display of athleticism and footwork. He's got that wade pullover dribble.
Speaker 2: I watched him do it to Austin Reeves where he
Speaker 2: just pulled the ball right over his head and then
Speaker 2: kind of slid over to the left side and put
Speaker 2: it in off the glass. He's got those spin moves,
Speaker 2: he's got those hop steps. He's just got really good footwork, which, again,
Speaker 2: as I talk about all the time on the show,
Speaker 2: like when you have athleticism, that's one thing, but footwork
Speaker 2: is how you functionally get your athleticism to benefit you
Speaker 2: on the basketball court. I talk about this with my
Speaker 2: young players all the time, and I'm really emphasizing it
Speaker 2: now because we're in our early phase of the season,
Speaker 2: so there's a lot of new players. And like, if
Speaker 2: you have an opening to the right or an opening
Speaker 2: to the left for a pull up jump shot, meaning
Speaker 2: like there's a little bit of space there that you
Speaker 2: can get to, but you're only comfortable taking a jump
Speaker 2: shot off of the dribble with right left footwork, then
Speaker 2: you're only going to be able to get to that
Speaker 2: spot going left. And if you see it right and
Speaker 2: you have to chop your feet or you have to
Speaker 2: hop into it, that little lack of efficiency is going
Speaker 2: to allow a good defender to recover to you. And
Speaker 2: like that's the thing, Like Donovan's a great athlete, but
Speaker 2: he's got all of the functional footwork that actually allows
Speaker 2: him to weaponize that athleticism. There are a lot of
Speaker 2: freaky athletic small guards in the league that aren't even
Speaker 2: close to sixty percent on layups. And again, it's not
Speaker 2: about like making super tough shots over contests. There are
Speaker 2: guys like that in the league, guys like Kyrie, guys
Speaker 2: like Steph Right that are just really like shot makers
Speaker 2: when they get to the rim. But for the most part,
Speaker 2: it's about getting open layups. And how do you get
Speaker 2: open layups by actually making moves in that short range
Speaker 2: to shed defenders and to create space so that you
Speaker 2: can just put the ball easily in off the off
Speaker 2: the backboard. Let's get into some play type data, so
Speaker 2: pick and roll. He was in the eightieth percentile last year.
Speaker 2: He got one point zero three points per possession including passes.
Speaker 2: Didn't quite make our high volume list, he was at
Speaker 2: just eight hundred and eighty five possessions. But he had
Speaker 2: really good chemistry, specifically with Jared Allen. They ran a
Speaker 2: lot of action on the left side of the floor.
Speaker 2: They saw a lot of ice coverage, which is again
Speaker 2: where you see that guard defender deny the use of
Speaker 2: the screen and force you back towards the sideline. But
Speaker 2: Donovan had a really nice kind of like chemistry with
Speaker 2: Jared Allen where he would just quickly rescreen and actually
Speaker 2: screen Donovan towards the sideline, and he got a lot
Speaker 2: of these easy pull up threes along that left wing
Speaker 2: just because of that screen chemistry that he had with
Speaker 2: Jared Allen. And that specifically is the kind of thing
Speaker 2: that you need when you're gonna beat these kinds of coverages,
Speaker 2: right like Hey, we come up the left side, we
Speaker 2: know we're gonna see an ice We're gonna see an
Speaker 2: ice coverage there. I need you either to make yourself
Speaker 2: available to or I need you to screen me on
Speaker 2: that kind of sideline side. And you saw a lot
Speaker 2: of both of that. You saw the screens for those
Speaker 2: pull up jump shots. Like I talked about, a lot
Speaker 2: of times the big in those ice coverages on defense
Speaker 2: would come up higher and so Jared wouldn't even bother
Speaker 2: to set a screen. He would just kind of slip
Speaker 2: into that like fifteen foot area when he'd catched there.
Speaker 2: If the lowman wasn't there, he'd just ripped through and
Speaker 2: dunk it. And if he was, he would just shoot
Speaker 2: that little pop shot or that little short jump shot.
Speaker 2: And Jared Allen was their most effective role man last year.
Speaker 2: Not hard to figure out. Evan Mobley obviously still struggling
Speaker 2: in that regard, but the chemistry between Jared Allen and
Speaker 2: Donovan Mitchell is real. And that's now because of the
Speaker 2: contract extensions for both guys going to be a staple
Speaker 2: of Cleveland Cavalier basketball for a long time. In ISO situations,
Speaker 2: Donovan Mitchell was the in the seventy fourth percentile. He
Speaker 2: got one hundred and seventy four points one hundred and
Speaker 2: seventy four possessions. You guys can go ahead and do
Speaker 2: the math there for what that is on a points
Speaker 2: per possession basis. I talked about his downhill moves earlier
Speaker 2: in those ISO situations, just getting into the defender body
Speaker 2: and then using those like kind of footwork elements to
Speaker 2: shed that defender so that he can get into the basket.
Speaker 2: His pull up jumper also just incredibly deadly. As we
Speaker 2: talked about, I think Donovan Mitchell has the best step
Speaker 2: back jump shot going to his left for a small
Speaker 2: guard in the league in terms of getting separation. Obviously,
Speaker 2: a guy like Steph Curry's a better shooter, but in
Speaker 2: terms of the actual footwork and getting separation, Donovan has
Speaker 2: this hard pound dribble through the legs to the right
Speaker 2: where he like pounds it through the legs while gathering
Speaker 2: it back to the left, So he's basically whipping it
Speaker 2: and grabbing it and pulling it back to the left,
Speaker 2: and he covers so much ground and he gets such
Speaker 2: a wide base he goes straight up and down at
Speaker 2: the end that it's actually turned into a really reliable
Speaker 2: ISO type of shot for him. It's a piece of
Speaker 2: footwork that I think a lot of athletic guards need
Speaker 2: to have. It's just a basic I look at it
Speaker 2: as like a jab step with a live dribble. So
Speaker 2: you imagine you got a lot, you've got a triple threat,
Speaker 2: and the defender's kind of playing a little bit off
Speaker 2: of you, and you want to kind of establish your
Speaker 2: rhythm and get a little more separation, you'll throw a
Speaker 2: hard jab and then you'll go up right. Well, in
Speaker 2: a live dribble situation, that's where that move comes into
Speaker 2: the picture. Right, you're dribbling in that high hesitation and
Speaker 2: you pound between your legs and pull back. It basically
Speaker 2: functions as a jab step even though you have a
Speaker 2: live dribble, and Donovan makes really nice use of that
Speaker 2: in ISO situations, which made him an effective isoscore last year. Again,
Speaker 2: he didn't make any of our high volume lists, but
Speaker 2: he was very effective in both pick and roll and
Speaker 2: ISO situations. It was the best playmaking season of Donovan
Speaker 2: Mitchell's career. Not only did he average a career high
Speaker 2: six point one assist per game, but this was also
Speaker 2: the first time in Donovan's entire career that he had
Speaker 2: an assist to turnover ratio over too, meaning for the
Speaker 2: first time he had at least two assists for every turnover.
Speaker 2: That's a big step forward for him, and a big
Speaker 2: one that I noticed is those long steps at the
Speaker 2: rim that I talked about, those euros and those spins
Speaker 2: and those pullover dribbles and stuff like that. It allowed
Speaker 2: him to slow himself down at the rim, which in
Speaker 2: many cases brought over the low man more aggressively. And
Speaker 2: he just got really good at making that kickout pass
Speaker 2: to the weak side corner when you would get into
Speaker 2: the rim. And then the second piece of it is
Speaker 2: just that role chemistry with Jared Allen, which we talked
Speaker 2: about earlier. He had an excellent playoff run. He was
Speaker 2: flat out explosive. He went off for fifty in a
Speaker 2: game against Orlando. He had a hyper efficient twenty nine
Speaker 2: point game on the road in Boston to actually win
Speaker 2: that game in game two of that second round series.
Speaker 2: He averaged thirty points per game overall in the playoff
Speaker 2: run on fifty eight percent for shooting. It was just
Speaker 2: a casual reminder that Donovan's still one of the most
Speaker 2: explosive guards in the league within that playoff context, where
Speaker 2: his athleticism is more of a factor areas of opportunity,
Speaker 2: he's still a volatile decision maker. His assist numbers cratered
Speaker 2: in the postseason. He was down to four point seven
Speaker 2: points per game. He still has a tendency to try
Speaker 2: to solve problems in the game by hijacking things and
Speaker 2: looking to score, especially early in the clock, like when
Speaker 2: things start to hit the fan. That's when it'll start
Speaker 2: to take a couple like early clock pull up jump shots,
Speaker 2: and you know, you get a couple of misses there,
Speaker 2: they can really kind of demoralize the team. And so
Speaker 2: he's just not as good as a game manager as
Speaker 2: some of his peers at the top of the league.
Speaker 2: But that doesn't take away from the fact that he's
Speaker 2: as explosive as he is. That's just his main area
Speaker 2: of opportunity, and he is getting a little better each year.
Speaker 2: And so here's the thing, Like I think Donovan's primed
Speaker 2: to make some real noise in his prime, as if
Speaker 2: we had into this phase where he's in his late
Speaker 2: twenties early thirties, if he can stay healthy and maintain
Speaker 2: a good chunk of his athleticism. I think he can
Speaker 2: build that part of his game out and even go
Speaker 2: up a level from where he's at right now.
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Speaker 2: Number sixteen. Jalen Brunson last year played seventy seven games,
Speaker 2: averaged twenty eight point seven points per game three point
Speaker 2: six rebounds per game, six point seven assists per game,
Speaker 2: along with just two point four turnovers. As a matter
Speaker 2: of fact, Jalen Brunson was one of only seven players
Speaker 2: in the NBA to average at least twenty five points
Speaker 2: at least six assists in fewer than three turnovers, So
Speaker 2: in a kind of like a kind of exclusive company
Speaker 2: in terms of hyper efficient, high volume shot creators shooting splits,
Speaker 2: he shot forty seven point nine percent from the field,
Speaker 2: forty point one percent from three to eighty four point
Speaker 2: seven percent from the line. That amounted to fifty four
Speaker 2: point three percent in effective field goal percentage waited for
Speaker 2: threes and fifty nine point two percent true shooting. When
Speaker 2: you add foul shooting into that, he averaged a career
Speaker 2: high six point five free throw attempts per game. Really
Speaker 2: a master of that low gathered using pump faced guys
Speaker 2: at a position just adding to his efficiency in his
Speaker 2: overall scoring volume by getting to the line. That was
Speaker 2: the sixteenth most free throw attempts per game in the
Speaker 2: entire NBA. Last year, shooting numbers perc Entergy one point
Speaker 2: zero nine points per jump shot. He was at one
Speaker 2: point three four points per catch and shoot jump shot,
Speaker 2: which is insane. He shot forty five percent overall and
Speaker 2: field goal percentage on catch and shoot jump shots that
Speaker 2: amounted to sixty seven percent in effective field goal percentage
Speaker 2: when you weigh it for threes, that was in the
Speaker 2: ninety fourth percentile, So he's one of the best catch
Speaker 2: and shoot guys in the league. Last year, he also
Speaker 2: got one point zero two points per pull up jump
Speaker 2: shot that was forty three percent in field goal percentage
Speaker 2: fifty one percent when you weigh it for threes. And
Speaker 2: then he was the best floater shooter in the entire NBA.
Speaker 2: Last year he shot fifty five percent on floaters fifty
Speaker 2: five percent. Remember we've just talked about Donovan Mitchell at
Speaker 2: forty two percent. And he also had three hundred and
Speaker 2: fifteen attempts, which is the only player in the league
Speaker 2: to attempt over three hundred. So he's got the best
Speaker 2: floater in the game. And it's not particularly close. And
Speaker 2: when you look at the other guys that were in
Speaker 2: the top five for volume, and these guys were all
Speaker 2: below three hundred attempts. But these are the other top
Speaker 2: five guys in the top five, Tyas Jones, Trey Young, CJ. McCollum,
Speaker 2: Tyre Smaxi. Not a single one of them got over
Speaker 2: one point zero four points per floater. Brunson was at
Speaker 2: one point one point eight. That's a substantial gap. He's
Speaker 2: just the best at it, or at least he was
Speaker 2: last season, and then fifty five percent at the RAM.
Speaker 2: That's solid for a small guard. It's kind of where
Speaker 2: you expect. It's not very good, not very bad either.
Speaker 2: He had three point seven attempts per game, which is
Speaker 2: also in the restricted area, which is also solid for
Speaker 2: a small guard who doesn't have a lot of speed
Speaker 2: or quickness. Playtype data from Synergy ran fifteen hundred and
Speaker 2: fourteen pick and rolls including passes, that was the most
Speaker 2: in the entire NBA. He got sixteen hundred and seven
Speaker 2: points out of them. That amounts to one point zero
Speaker 2: six points per possession. This was in the eightieth percentile
Speaker 2: for efficiency. He made a high volume list, obviously, as
Speaker 2: the highest volume pick and roll player in the league.
Speaker 2: Out of the fifteen players to run at least one
Speaker 2: thousand ball screens including passes, Jalen Brunsond ranked seventh in
Speaker 2: the entire NBA. Not a great ISO year for him,
Speaker 2: though he ran four hundred and twenty two ISOs and
Speaker 2: got just three hundred and seventy seven points including passes,
Speaker 2: that amounted to zero point eighty nine points per possession.
Speaker 2: He personally shot just thirty nine percent in those situations,
Speaker 2: and inner high volume list he ranked twenty fourth out
Speaker 2: of the twenty four players to run at least two
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty ISOs. He was the worst high volume
Speaker 2: ISO player in the league last year, but I view
Speaker 2: this as mostly a blip in just kind of an
Speaker 2: unusual circumstance because last year, the year before last, I
Speaker 2: should say, he got one point one zero points per
Speaker 2: ISO including passes, which ranked fifth out of the twenty
Speaker 2: five players to run at least two hundred fifty So
Speaker 2: he was one of the best high volume MISO players
Speaker 2: in the league last year, and then in this year's
Speaker 2: playoff run he was at one point zero four points
Speaker 2: per io including passes, which is a really good number.
Speaker 2: So in all likelihood, the ISO numbers last year were
Speaker 2: just kind of a blip. I think a big part
Speaker 2: of it too, was Julius Randall being out for basically
Speaker 2: half the season, and so he just had a lot
Speaker 2: of rescue possessions were ready to throw shit up at
Speaker 2: the end of the shot clock, and I think that
Speaker 2: probably hurt his efficiency in that regard to a certain extent.
Speaker 2: The playoff run for Jalen Brunson was super impressive, yet
Speaker 2: he averaged thirty two point four points per game, seven
Speaker 2: point five assists to just two point seven turnovers. That
Speaker 2: amounted to a respectable fifty four percent in true shooting percentage,
Speaker 2: which was great considering the circumstances, like I talked about earlier,
Speaker 2: especially with the injuries later in the playoff run and
Speaker 2: then obviously not having Julius Randall as a substantial secondary
Speaker 2: shot creator. The Philly series in particular was insane to me.
Speaker 2: When you watch those first two games, the Sixers were
Speaker 2: throwing the kitchen sink at him. He had a steady
Speaker 2: diet of like six ' eight six ' nine athletic
Speaker 2: wings that were chasing him over the top of screans
Speaker 2: and applying back pressure, pressuring him on his way up
Speaker 2: the floor, trying to funnel him into Joel Embiid, who
Speaker 2: in a deep drop coverage can still be effective as
Speaker 2: a defensive player. They were digging down in the lane
Speaker 2: off of other players when he would drive it was
Speaker 2: about as tough of a defensive look as you'll see
Speaker 2: for a single shot creator, and he averaged thirty six
Speaker 2: points and nine assists in that series, and that was
Speaker 2: after a rough couple of games. If you take out
Speaker 2: the first two games, he averaged forty two to ten
Speaker 2: forty two points and ten assists in the last four
Speaker 2: games of the series on fifty nine percent tru shooting.
Speaker 2: It was a very, very impressive display of half court
Speaker 2: shot creation from Jalen Brunson. And the Knicks just fell
Speaker 2: apart with injuries. I strongly believe that they would have
Speaker 2: made the conference finals. I think they would have beat
Speaker 2: Indian five had they stayed healthy, But once Ojiananobi went
Speaker 2: down in Game two, it was just basically over at
Speaker 2: that point. His weaknesses Jalen Bronson doesn't really have the
Speaker 2: ability to impact the game as an athlete in any capacity,
Speaker 2: which obviously hurts his overall two way impact. But to
Speaker 2: his credit, he does his job on defense and he
Speaker 2: holds well enough on an island in ISO, mainly because
Speaker 2: he's strong that he's not really a weak point either.
Speaker 2: In addition to that, he's made himself one of the
Speaker 2: best half court surgeons in the game. As we've discussed
Speaker 2: at length at this point, he's a deadly drop coverage beater.
Speaker 2: He can hit pull up threes when you duck under picks.
Speaker 2: He can hit pull up twos when you chase over
Speaker 2: the top. He's the best floater shooter in the league.
Speaker 2: He's proven his ability to be a high level playmaker.
Speaker 2: I think he's the best small guard in the league
Speaker 2: after Steph Curry, and I think he's demonstrated that to
Speaker 2: a great extent. The guys that I have above him,
Speaker 2: I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of people that
Speaker 2: are They feel like I have Brunson too low. And again,
Speaker 2: these guys are all in the same tier to me,
Speaker 2: so we're kind of splitting hairs. But the guys that
Speaker 2: I have above him are all bigger, better athletes, and
Speaker 2: that goes a long way towards your ability to impact winning.
Speaker 2: But I don't see much of a gap between him
Speaker 2: and really anybody in this tier. This tier is all
Speaker 2: very bunched up in that regard. But I think in
Speaker 2: terms of just looking at the small guards in the league,
Speaker 2: guys below like six ' five, I think that he's
Speaker 2: the best small guard in the league. After Steph Curry.
Speaker 2: Why is he above Donovan Mitchell. I think Jalen's a
Speaker 2: better game manager and decision maker than Donovan Mitchell. That's
Speaker 2: the main differentiator. He's far less susceptible to like those
Speaker 2: five or six possession stretches that Donovan can have where
Speaker 2: he just takes a bunch of bad shots and kind
Speaker 2: of loses sight of the bigger picture. And that, to me,
Speaker 2: especially in the playoff context, is super valuable. Jalen Brunson
Speaker 2: has stamped himself as a legitimate number one on a
Speaker 2: championship team this year by demonstrating that he can generate
Speaker 2: enough offense to win a playoff series without a legitimate
Speaker 2: co star. Again, I believe they would have made the
Speaker 2: conference finals had they stayed healthy. But at the same time,
Speaker 2: the Knicks are aware that he needs a lot of
Speaker 2: support and he will have that this year. The addition
Speaker 2: of Michale Bridges and Julius Randall coming back from injury,
Speaker 2: either as a player or as a trade piece, and
Speaker 2: also factoring the resigning of Ogananobi, that gives Brunson a
Speaker 2: bunch of high level two way players that allow him
Speaker 2: to focus on what he does best, which is just
Speaker 2: being that half court surgeon. So again, he's incredibly good
Speaker 2: at one specific thing, and if you can point him
Speaker 2: and shoot him that way and account for everything else
Speaker 2: with your role players, you give yourself a good chance.
Speaker 2: And I'm really curious to see how that experiment works
Speaker 2: this season. Etho, all right, let's get to the mail bag.
Speaker 2: I've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight
Speaker 2: looks like nine questions. We'll see maybe miscounting there, so
Speaker 2: we'll see. Jason, I have to disagree with you for
Speaker 2: not putting Drew Holliday on the in contention list. Dude
Speaker 2: is one of the few guys with multiple championships on
Speaker 2: different rosters. Arguably the best perimeter defender in the league,
Speaker 2: played more on a stacked USA team than almost anyone
Speaker 2: else in the contention list, contributes heavily to winning man
Speaker 2: deserves his flowers. He should get on the possible top
Speaker 2: twenty five lists. I totally agree. It was just an
Speaker 2: accidental oversight on my part. He's better than a lot
Speaker 2: of the guys that made my preliminary forty five lists,
Speaker 2: so again, it was just an accident. That kind of
Speaker 2: thing happens when you do what I do for a
Speaker 2: living stuff just slips through the cracks and I make mistakes.
Speaker 2: Kyrie was fifty to forty ninety playing next to the
Speaker 2: most ball dominant player and is a much better defender
Speaker 2: than Fox, as we just saw in the playoffs. What
Speaker 2: real argument does Fox have over Kyrie? Well, for starters,
Speaker 2: I disagree that Kyrie is a better defender than Fox.
Speaker 2: Fox I thought he demonstrated, especially at that in that
Speaker 2: Warriors series, that he has pretty considerable defensive upside, and
Speaker 2: also with DeMar Derozen in the mix now is like
Speaker 2: a high volume shock creator that can kind of take
Speaker 2: some of those duties away from him. Now Fox will
Speaker 2: have an opportunity to devote more resources in that direction.
Speaker 2: I expect Dearon Fox to have the best defensive season
Speaker 2: of his career this year. So again, I think Kyrie
Speaker 2: is a good and useful defensive player. But I think
Speaker 2: to Deer and Fox, especially within the context of what
Speaker 2: Kyrie has is like playing alongside a secondary star where
Speaker 2: he can focus his energy there. I think Fox is
Speaker 2: a more capable and a more impactful defensive player. I
Speaker 2: also think Fox is clearly a better basketball player overall,
Speaker 2: especially as a primary shot creator. He's way more athletic,
Speaker 2: his much better size for the position, he applies substantially
Speaker 2: more rim pressure, which is one of the most valuable
Speaker 2: things you can do offensively. I don't have to get
Speaker 2: into it right now, but just getting to the rim
Speaker 2: and occupying defenders and getting shots up on the glass
Speaker 2: is so valuable to an offense, both for generating open
Speaker 2: threes and offensive rebound opportunities. But one last thing. He's
Speaker 2: also proven to be a much more durable and reliable
Speaker 2: guy to lead his team over the eighty two game
Speaker 2: stretch as well as four potential playoff rounds. So I
Speaker 2: think Fox is a better basketball player. That said, to
Speaker 2: your point, there is a real case that Kyrie is
Speaker 2: a better number two alongside another star because of his
Speaker 2: ability to play off the ball and because of his
Speaker 2: ability to rescue possessions as a tough shot maker. And
Speaker 2: that's a fair point. I have a male bad question
Speaker 2: that I didn't put in today's show because it's more
Speaker 2: relevant tomorrow. But I have a mail back question for
Speaker 2: our next show that's regarding Devin Booker and Jalen Brown
Speaker 2: that gets into this concept, and it's a legitimate counterpoint,
Speaker 2: and I totally agree. But for the record, we're splitting
Speaker 2: hairs here and I have Fox at twenty four and
Speaker 2: Kyrie at twenty five, so I obviously don't see much
Speaker 2: of a difference overall between those two guys. I just
Speaker 2: think I think darreon Fox in a vacuum. If you
Speaker 2: were drafting to start a again, there's thirty NBA teams,
Speaker 2: there's thirty NBA teams, And if we were doing an
Speaker 2: open draft and you had the twenty fourth pick, you're
Speaker 2: picking to be the best player on your team. So
Speaker 2: like Daron Fox is who you're taking in that spot
Speaker 2: over a guy like Kyrie Irving. But that point about
Speaker 2: Kyrie being a better number two is fair, and that's
Speaker 2: a big part of why Kyrie is as high on
Speaker 2: this list as he is. But at the same time,
Speaker 2: I gave the slight nod to Fox. But again we're
Speaker 2: talking about a very very tiny margin here, Guys, I
Speaker 2: just don't understand how you can think Lebron can get
Speaker 2: through a full playoff at this point as a top
Speaker 2: five player. He looked fantastic in the Olympics, but that
Speaker 2: was not as much of a grinder as the conference
Speaker 2: finals and finals. Even in in the Olympics, he was
Speaker 2: losing steam by the end of the gold medal game.
Speaker 2: Once again not a slight he is thirty nine. It
Speaker 2: is incredible how well he played. Lebron got away with
Speaker 2: some cruise control in twenty twenty three and really wasn't
Speaker 2: top five until Lebron wasn't top five Lebron until he
Speaker 2: realized the Nuggets were not going to let him rest.
Speaker 2: Without Davis, there was no way he even gets to
Speaker 2: the most competitive sweep in NBA history. I think you
Speaker 2: were greatly underestimating how much of a buzz saw the
Speaker 2: NBA playoffs are, especially after an NBA season, and for
Speaker 2: the Lakers a play in you see a bunch of
Speaker 2: young players run up and not realize what they are
Speaker 2: getting into. I think there are two LEPs, the physical
Speaker 2: which is the second and third round, and mental buzzsaw
Speaker 2: in the finals itself. I think ant ran into the
Speaker 2: first one last year and Luca ran into the second one.
Speaker 2: Lebron obviously knows, hence the cruise control twenty twenty three
Speaker 2: and twenty twenty four. He knew the Nuggets would crush
Speaker 2: him if he didn't try. I would add having this
Speaker 2: playoff experience to rankings because I think it is important
Speaker 2: for players to learn this as well as additional durability.
Speaker 2: Think about the players who didn't make it through the
Speaker 2: playoff grinder. Even Jordan had to learn about this. Ant
Speaker 2: is better for experience and possibly Luca. I suppose it
Speaker 2: is a plus that Lebron knows this. I also think
Speaker 2: he helped I also think this helped Curry in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two a lot. There's definitely something to a superstar
Speaker 2: getting to the finals and experiencing the pacing. So here's
Speaker 2: the thing. There are a lot of people that I've seen.
Speaker 2: There was a Celtics buddy of mine named Mike who
Speaker 2: who told me that he thought that the twenty twenty
Speaker 2: Lakers benefited from the gap, the break from the COVID shutdown,
Speaker 2: because it gave them a chance to rest so that
Speaker 2: they could get through the playoff run. Here's the thing.
Speaker 2: Lebron is still yet to miss a single playoff game
Speaker 2: in his entire career, So the idea that he can't
Speaker 2: hold up for a two months playoff run is completely theoretical.
Speaker 2: It's based on like he's old, maybe he won't do it,
Speaker 2: but we've never actually seen him not be able to
Speaker 2: do it. In twenty twenty three, he got hurt and
Speaker 2: he played on it, and he still averaged twenty five,
Speaker 2: ten and seven on fifty eight percentury shooting, and he
Speaker 2: got stronger as the playoffs went on. In the Nugget series,
Speaker 2: he average twenty eight, ten and ten and shot fifty
Speaker 2: two percent from the field. So, like, here's the thing.
Speaker 2: He definitely conserves energy in the regular season. And by
Speaker 2: the way, that's why he won't be top five on
Speaker 2: this list, even though I think i'd pick him top
Speaker 2: five for a playoff series that starts tomorrow, right. That
Speaker 2: has to be factored in because, as you mentioned, the
Speaker 2: Lakers sometimes have to play in the play in. A
Speaker 2: big part of why the Lakers have had to play
Speaker 2: in the play in has been Lebron has to conserve
Speaker 2: a certain amount of energy because he's old in the
Speaker 2: eighty two. But when we get to the four rounds,
Speaker 2: I understand skepticism he's gonna be forty blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 2: But he's never missed a playoff game. So like, whatever
Speaker 2: idea you might have about whether or not he can't
Speaker 2: hold up that, it's just not it's just theoretical. At
Speaker 2: this point. It's not actually based on anything that's actually happened.
Speaker 2: But again, I don't have Lebron in my top five.
Speaker 2: I have I'll give you guys, like a little tiny teaser.
Speaker 2: I still have Tatum above Lebron in the eighty two
Speaker 2: game context, even though I think Lebron is a substained
Speaker 2: better like two week basketball player. Okay, so like, let's
Speaker 2: I am factoring that in. I just think that within
Speaker 2: the playoff context, I think it's unfair to Lebron to
Speaker 2: be like, oh, but maybe he won't be available when
Speaker 2: all these ever been has been available. Right mail back.
Speaker 2: Question about your criteria for these rankings, Number one, Your
Speaker 2: number one criterion is half court offensive creation. Doesn't that
Speaker 2: reward helio centric players like Doncic and Marie who rack
Speaker 2: up substantial counting stats but whose team offense is easier
Speaker 2: to stop than five out offense if you prefer five
Speaker 2: out as the more resilient offensive approach, shouldn't half court
Speaker 2: criteria making be playmaking both on and off the ball,
Speaker 2: like Curry and Tatum. I'd rather a star get involved
Speaker 2: in the screening and cutting than simply the counting stats.
Speaker 2: For the record, I agree with you in your overall
Speaker 2: basketball philosophy that heliocentric basketball is not as overall effective
Speaker 2: as like five out play with each other team based basketball.
Speaker 2: That said, like Luka, Doncic is so so so so
Speaker 2: so so so so so much better than Jason Tatum
Speaker 2: as half court shot creator that even if I disagree
Speaker 2: about the play style, it just still is a gap
Speaker 2: that we have to account for. And so like again,
Speaker 2: like when I talk about half court offensive creation, I'm
Speaker 2: extending that to five out as well. And that is
Speaker 2: why Steph you know, I still consider it to be
Speaker 2: in the superstar tier, even though he's declined a certain
Speaker 2: amount over the course of the tail end of last season. Like,
Speaker 2: I still believe that that shot creation value of him
Speaker 2: running around off of screens and the gravity and all
Speaker 2: of that is still so profoundly impactful. I also think
Speaker 2: Curry is going to shoot better this year. We'll see.
Speaker 2: But like I want to be clear, like I'm not
Speaker 2: favoring heliocentric players. I'm just saying that among all the
Speaker 2: different things that I value, that elite half court offensive
Speaker 2: creation is still the thing that I think is most
Speaker 2: valuable in the league. Second part of your question, I
Speaker 2: also think that leaving out defense, which you do discuss
Speaker 2: when actually ranking and rebounding as explicit criteria as a
Speaker 2: major mistake. I want my start to greatly impact all
Speaker 2: parts of the game. Like Ad and Giannis, I'm not
Speaker 2: leaving out defense. Just because I have half court shot
Speaker 2: creation as more valuable than defense doesn't mean I don't
Speaker 2: value defense. It's still in there. It's still part of
Speaker 2: the equation for me. It's I mean, I had beam
Speaker 2: At a Bio in my top twenty, right Like, I'm
Speaker 2: not discounting that. I'm just saying that I think that
Speaker 2: the half court high end offensive creation is the most
Speaker 2: valuable piece that any single player can bring to the team. Hey, Jason,
Speaker 2: can you explain why Dame is higher than Fox. I'm
Speaker 2: just curious of the thought process in basketball reasoning. Thanks
Speaker 2: and keep up the good work. I think Dame is
Speaker 2: just a much better shot maker, which I think is
Speaker 2: super valuable in the playoffs when things get tight. So,
Speaker 2: for example, in Dame's last two playoff runs, He's attempted
Speaker 2: thirteen to threes per game and made forty four percent
Speaker 2: of them. That's insane. He's at thirty three points per
Speaker 2: game on sixty two percentury of shooting in his last
Speaker 2: ten playoff games. So here's the thing. I do think
Speaker 2: Dearon Fox is a better regular season player right now
Speaker 2: because he's a better athlete, he plies a lot more
Speaker 2: rim pressure, he's a better defensive players, just more impactful
Speaker 2: over the eighty two. That said, that playoff part of
Speaker 2: it is part of it for me, and I just
Speaker 2: think Dame is a better half court shot creator in
Speaker 2: the playoffs, kind of similar to what we were just
Speaker 2: talking talking about. So that gave him the edge for me.
Speaker 2: But it's also worth mentioning that I have all these
Speaker 2: guys in the same tier, so like, it's not like
Speaker 2: I think Dame's here and Fox is here there, They're
Speaker 2: right next to each other. I'm just giving the nod
Speaker 2: to Dame. The tiers for me are designed to actually
Speaker 2: signify a difference in the levels, if that makes sense.
Speaker 2: Over analyzing on John Rant, In my opinion, Lillard and
Speaker 2: Maxie are not just better than him just because their
Speaker 2: shooting numbers are better. Wait, okay, hold on, Lillard and
Speaker 2: MAXI are not better than him just because they're shooting
Speaker 2: numbers are better. My list, they are multiple tiers below
Speaker 2: jaw led backs back fifty plus win teams when he
Speaker 2: last really played, and stats can't measure the difference his
Speaker 2: mere presence on the court provides, given his insane speed
Speaker 2: and athleticism. And he's a better defender than both Lillard
Speaker 2: and Maxi before the toy but before twenty before the
Speaker 2: twenty two to twenty three season, he was horrible, But
Speaker 2: in that season his d was fine. We saw Maxi
Speaker 2: without himbid he wasn't that amazing or winning games. And
Speaker 2: Dame is getting older and was wildly inconsistent last year.
Speaker 2: A couple of things. I actually do think Tyros Maxi
Speaker 2: is better defender than Jaw. I do think Jaw's a
Speaker 2: better defender than Day though I agree that Jaw is
Speaker 2: a better basketball player when he's available than those guys.
Speaker 2: I've said this on the show before, But like, I
Speaker 2: think Jaw has like top ten potential when he's available.
Speaker 2: The thing is, he has missed eighty six of the
Speaker 2: grizzlies last one hundred and eight games, and that wasn't
Speaker 2: just the suspension either, Like there are health issues there,
Speaker 2: So like that's the main thing that has him this
Speaker 2: far back on the list. I'm a huge believer in
Speaker 2: what John Muran is capable of. He just needs to
Speaker 2: prove that he can actually be available to his team
Speaker 2: before he can be regarded that high on the list.
Speaker 2: There's actual, like can't he stay healthy concerns with Jaw
Speaker 2: that extend beyond even the suspension stuff. Thoughts on Maxi's upside.
Speaker 2: I know you mentioned Jos's potential was higher, but I'm
Speaker 2: curious how close that is. Like you said, he's a
Speaker 2: great leader, a workaholic, and one of the best off
Speaker 2: the cat shooters we've seen. If that off the dribble
Speaker 2: develops while he's playing with someone like Embid, I can
Speaker 2: see his playmaking improving as well, even if he's mid
Speaker 2: at defense. At his peak, a player averaging twenty seven
Speaker 2: to twenty eight with four rebounds and seven assists on
Speaker 2: like sixty one percent shooting is MVP level stuff. The
Speaker 2: main gap between Jaw and Maxi in my opinion. In
Speaker 2: my opinion is the ability to stop on a dime
Speaker 2: in the vertical pot. That makes Jaw much more dynamic
Speaker 2: as a score in these short range which makes him
Speaker 2: much harder to guard in my opinion. But I do
Speaker 2: think Tyres Maxy has superstar upside. He's just got further
Speaker 2: to go. I think he has to become a substantially
Speaker 2: better passer than he is, and then that pull up
Speaker 2: jumper efficiency like we talked about earlier, So like, if
Speaker 2: you can improve dramatically in those two areas, I think
Speaker 2: he can enter into that tier. But Jaw is just
Speaker 2: Jaw's not as dependent on the jump shot because he's
Speaker 2: just so dynamic with his ability to change direction, with
Speaker 2: his ability to get downhill and then suddenly at five
Speaker 2: feet just pop up off the ground and shoot a
Speaker 2: floater like right there. Like He's just he's so dynamic
Speaker 2: in that short range as a scorer, it just makes
Speaker 2: him borderline impossible to guard. I take issue with the
Speaker 2: methodology used here in which durability plays a factor into
Speaker 2: how we rank players. If we are ranking players based
Speaker 2: on basketball talent alone in a vacuum, then durability should
Speaker 2: be a part of the equation. Injuries can happen to
Speaker 2: anyone at any time. A better measure of how good
Speaker 2: players are in a vacuum should assume health. That way,
Speaker 2: we can compare the on court impact and the play
Speaker 2: of these players and rank them accordingly. Ranking a player
Speaker 2: lower due to availability is disingenuous to the idea of
Speaker 2: ranking them in a vacuum, I disagree. The main thing
Speaker 2: is we can't just we can't just assume. You said earlier,
Speaker 2: you mentioned injuries can happen to anyone at any time.
Speaker 2: That's true, But I think we all have to admit
Speaker 2: that certain players are more susceptible to injuries than others.
Speaker 2: That's just a fact that we can see in the
Speaker 2: availability of some of these guys. Also the entire premise
Speaker 2: of the list. What I mean by in a vacuum.
Speaker 2: In a vacuum means from October first through to the
Speaker 2: mid June through to mid June, all thirty franchises drafting
Speaker 2: all four hundred and fifty players. Who are you taking?
Speaker 2: So if a guy is like, really good for the
Speaker 2: two months but has injury issues over the eighty two,
Speaker 2: that has to be factored in. It just does. It's
Speaker 2: in a vacuum within the context of a full season
Speaker 2: from training camp all the way through to the end
Speaker 2: of the NBA Finals, And so that to me is
Speaker 2: why availability has the factor. So I'm not actually listening
Speaker 2: to mailback question here because there was just a bunch
Speaker 2: of these, But I had a bunch of people talk
Speaker 2: about how I had Wemby too low and specifically why
Speaker 2: I have Bam over him for this particular season. For
Speaker 2: the record, I think Victor wimen Yama is very capable
Speaker 2: of being the best player of the league in the
Speaker 2: league sooner than later. I'm a huge believer in Wemby.
Speaker 2: I'm a huge fan of Wemby. However, you guys know
Speaker 2: how I feel about young basketball players, particularly when it
Speaker 2: comes to making mistakes. I actually think you could argue
Speaker 2: an overall winning impact over the eighty two games Wemby
Speaker 2: absolutely should be higher that. I agree with you. I
Speaker 2: think he's going to be in just a complete wrecking
Speaker 2: ball for this eighty two games. However, when you get
Speaker 2: into the playoffs, there are so many close games. There
Speaker 2: are so many games that are decided by a handful
Speaker 2: of possessions. So much of it comes down to execution,
Speaker 2: and young players in particular have problem preventing mistakes and
Speaker 2: replicating what works. They're a little bit more volatile, right. Bam,
Speaker 2: for instance, is not gonna be nearly as impactful as
Speaker 2: Wemby over the eighty two but for a playoff series,
Speaker 2: he just has so much experience. He has NBA Finals experience,
Speaker 2: he's played in I don't even know, like a dozen
Speaker 2: playoff series. He's just been in so many of those
Speaker 2: environments and you can count on him, for the most part,
Speaker 2: to not make mistakes and to just do his job.
Speaker 2: And so again, long term, Wenby's obviously way better than BAM.
Speaker 2: Short term, in the regular season, Wemby's obviously way better
Speaker 2: than Bam. But when I'm factoring in, like what it's
Speaker 2: gonna be like in a knockdown, drag out, physical seven
Speaker 2: game series in May, I just give Bam the slightest
Speaker 2: edge because he's less mistake prone at this point. Wenby
Speaker 2: still has a tendency to take a few bad shots.
Speaker 2: There were some times in Foebo where he'd take a
Speaker 2: kind of like a contested early clock three, you know,
Speaker 2: or over penetrate and get into traffic and turn the
Speaker 2: basketball over. Those sorts of things. Over the eighty two.
Speaker 2: He can easily make up for it in the massive
Speaker 2: sample size by being the wrecking ball that is Wemby.
Speaker 2: But when you get into nut crunching time, that's where
Speaker 2: it's like that mistake can be catastrophic, right, And so again,
Speaker 2: just within the context of the goal of getting to
Speaker 2: mid June. For just this season, I barely give Baym
Speaker 2: an edge, but I think Wemby's gonna get I think
Speaker 2: there's a good chance Wenby gets some playoff experience this year.
Speaker 2: I think there's a chance he gets into that play
Speaker 2: in picture, and who knows whins a couple of games,
Speaker 2: he could get a seven game series. I just think
Speaker 2: Wemby needs some experience. And by the way, guys, I'm
Speaker 2: pretty consistent with this. You guys know, guys that are
Speaker 2: below the age of twenty two, they're not gonna be
Speaker 2: very high on my lists because that's just the way
Speaker 2: that I see the game. I think young players struggle
Speaker 2: to replicate what works, then they struggle to avoid making mistakes.
Speaker 2: But don't take that as Wemby criticism. That's how I
Speaker 2: feel about every young player. And I'm as big a
Speaker 2: Wenby fan as you'll find out there. Hey, Jason, just
Speaker 2: a bit of my two cents about Bam spot on
Speaker 2: the list. Difference between Bam and AD is that he
Speaker 2: doesn't have Lebron, James, Austin Reeves and d Low getting
Speaker 2: him those easy buckets at the rim all game. He
Speaker 2: hasn't had a high level playmaker since d Wade was
Speaker 2: in the backcourt throwing him lobs. First of all, I disagree.
Speaker 2: I think Jimmy Butler is a high level playmaker. Also,
Speaker 2: AD is just a much much higher level offensive player
Speaker 2: than Bam. Guys like BAM is incapable of doing what
Speaker 2: Ad did to Jokic in the first round this year.
Speaker 2: AD was going at Jokic repeatedly and cooking his ass
Speaker 2: one on one forced Mike Malone to make a change
Speaker 2: and take Jokic off of him. That's how good Ad
Speaker 2: is as a one on one ISO slash post up player.
Speaker 2: Bam has two thirty point games in the playoffs in
Speaker 2: his entire career. AD has twenty three. So like, they
Speaker 2: just aren't on the same tier as basketball players that
Speaker 2: I don't see as much as I love Bam, Eighty's
Speaker 2: just flat out better than him, and so like, I
Speaker 2: don't think it's about playmaking. Again, he plays with Jimmy Butler,
Speaker 2: who is one of the better playmaking wings in the league.
Speaker 2: So I just don't see that as enough of an excuse.
Speaker 2: Great breakdown on Fox, But there's no way Halle is
Speaker 2: better than him. If we're going to believe in players
Speaker 2: when they are extremely healthy, Fox averaged thirty points a
Speaker 2: game before he's prayed his ankle. Holly is a terrible
Speaker 2: point of attack defender. Fox is arguably one of the best.
Speaker 2: Fox averaged two steals per game From the point of attack.
Speaker 2: Fox is a closer, and Holly fades during big time moments.
Speaker 2: Holly can't be higher than off two and a half
Speaker 2: months of great basketball and completely disregarding the rest of
Speaker 2: the season. We're not disregarding the rest of the season.
Speaker 2: Halliburton is one of the best offensive engines in all
Speaker 2: of basketball, even when he's hampered. When he's healthy and
Speaker 2: playing on a good hamstring, he's arguably the third best
Speaker 2: overall offensive engine behind that Jokich Luka tier like. That's
Speaker 2: how good he is. He was the very best high
Speaker 2: volume pick and role player in the entire league last
Speaker 2: year when he was healthy, the Pacers at an offensive
Speaker 2: rating of one to twenty four. He is incredible at
Speaker 2: consistently getting the defense in rotation, which makes everything easier
Speaker 2: for everybody on the court. Halliburton is the guy that
Speaker 2: you can't just look at the box score. He is
Speaker 2: an offensive engine who complete consistently gets the defense and rotation.
Speaker 2: It's similar to the Caitlin Clark thing. Like Caitland, Clark's
Speaker 2: offensive impact cannot be quantified just by points and assists numbers.
Speaker 2: Like Tyre's, Halliburton is one of the best offensive engines
Speaker 2: in all of basketball. Tyre's Darren Fox, to me, is
Speaker 2: one of the best guards in the league, but I
Speaker 2: don't think he kind of falls into that top tier
Speaker 2: offensive engine list like Tyre's Halliburton does. He's got a
Speaker 2: lot of issues, which is why Halliburton and Fox are
Speaker 2: still close despite that gap. However, I do think that
Speaker 2: Holly and what he brings as an offensive engine gives
Speaker 2: him the edge there. All right, guys, that's all I
Speaker 2: have for today. We'll be right back tomorrow with another
Speaker 2: two players kind of a Actually, I think this one's
Speaker 2: actually gonna come out on Thursday. A really interesting debate
Speaker 2: between two players that are kind of different archetypes, playing
Speaker 2: in very different roles but bring very different things to
Speaker 2: the table. But I kind of view them right next
Speaker 2: to each other and you could debate either way. I'm
Speaker 2: excited to get into that with you, guys. I'll see
Speaker 2: you tomorrow. Also, last thing, I did do a video
Speaker 2: on two Suns podcast talking about the news that The
Speaker 2: Acolyte was canceled after season one. So me and Luke
Speaker 2: talked for like thirty five minutes yesterday, just kind of
Speaker 2: getting into all the details of what that means for
Speaker 2: Star Wars again. You can find that wherever you find
Speaker 2: your podcasts under two Sons or on YouTube under two
Speaker 2: Sons Podcasts. I always appreciate when you guys support over
Speaker 2: there as well. All right, thanks guys, thanks for rocking
Speaker 2: with me and the support. I will see you guys.
Speaker 1: In a couple of days.
Speaker 2: The volume