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Speaker 1: The volume. All right, Welcoon hoopsaid, I you're at the

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Speaker 1: volume heavy Monday, everybody. Hope all you guys had a

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Speaker 1: great weekend. We are doing another round of preseason reaction today.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna be ing in on a couple of teams

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Speaker 1: out of Texas, the Houston Rockets as well as the

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Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks. A couple of interesting debuts for new and

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Speaker 1: different looking teams. After that, we're going to talk about

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Speaker 1: the Boston Celtics. Had a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers

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Speaker 1: the other night, very fascinating game that showed I thought,

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Speaker 1: the strong basketball culture of both teams, but also is

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Speaker 1: an interesting look at a new era of Celtics basketball

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Speaker 1: that I want to talk about. At the tail end

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Speaker 1: of the show, just a couple of minutes on Lakers Warriors.

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Speaker 1: I just have some thoughts on specifically Deandreton as well

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Speaker 1: as the news that Lebron's going to be out to

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Speaker 1: start the season. We haven't had a chance to react

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Speaker 1: to that yet, so we'll have that, some brief thoughts

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Speaker 1: on the Warriors. And then there's a book that I

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Speaker 1: just finished reading that I'm excited to tell you guys

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Speaker 1: about that I think all Lakers fans should look to

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Speaker 1: get here in the next couple of weeks. You guys

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Speaker 1: have the joke before we get started, subscribe to Hoops

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Speaker 1: and Not YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of

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Speaker 1: our videos. Follow me on Twitter, underscore jcnlt so you

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Speaker 1: guys don't misshow announcements. Don't forget about a podcast feed

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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also

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Speaker 1: super helpful v leave a rating and a review on

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Speaker 1: that front. Jackson's doing incredible work on our social media

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Speaker 1: feeds on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Make sure you

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Speaker 1: guys follow us there. In the last but not least,

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Speaker 1: if you want to get questions in our mail bags,

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Speaker 1: drop them in the YouTube comments and we'll get to

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Speaker 1: them as we progress throughout this season. All right, let's

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Speaker 1: talk some basketball. Quick note on the rest of the

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Speaker 1: schedule for this week, we'll have our contender rankings on Wednesday. Friday,

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Speaker 1: we had our first mail bag that we've had in

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Speaker 1: a little bit, questions based on what I saw on

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Speaker 1: the YouTube comments for the season preview pods, and then

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Speaker 1: next week we'll have something on Monday, probably just like

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Speaker 1: a prediction, big like five predictions on the Sea and

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Speaker 1: something along those lines, and then we're in it and

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Speaker 1: we're gonna be live on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night,

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Speaker 1: which would be a lot of fun. All Right, let's

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Speaker 1: talk some hoops. So starting with Houston. We got our

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Speaker 1: first look at the KD Kevin Durant Rockets against the

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Speaker 1: Jazz last week. I'm trying really hard not to overreact

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Speaker 1: because it was just the Utah Jazz, but I'm not

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Speaker 1: gonna lie, guys. I was super impressed by Houston on

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Speaker 1: both ends of the floor. They still very much had

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Speaker 1: that defense to transition identity. They had a stretch in

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Speaker 1: the second quarter where it was like steal, runout, dunk, steel,

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Speaker 1: run out, dunk, steel run out dunk, stop run out dunk,

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Speaker 1: and it just was that classic type of run that

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Speaker 1: we're used to seeing from those bench groups with like

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Speaker 1: Tari Easton and Amn Thompson on the floor just making plays,

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Speaker 1: sparking those transition runouts where their athleticism can be such

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Speaker 1: a strong part of their roster. Right again, it's preseason

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Speaker 1: against the Jazz. Like a lot of those turnovers were

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Speaker 1: like Sphema kailu and you're not gonna be going against

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Speaker 1: ball handlers of that quality every night in the Western Conference,

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Speaker 1: but it's still good to see that that identity is

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Speaker 1: still there. The big reason why I'm excited is they

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Speaker 1: were a lot more polished on offense than I was

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Speaker 1: expecting them to look. And again I'm trying not to

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Speaker 1: get two ahead of myself here. We'll talk about the

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Speaker 1: bigger picture here in a minute. But Shanggun looks awesome.

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Speaker 1: He looks poised for a breakout year. I talked last

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Speaker 1: week about how I fear I underrated him in our

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Speaker 1: player rankings. I had him outside of my top twenty five,

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Speaker 1: and I probably should have had him in that top

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Speaker 1: twenty five. I looked back at my lit like all

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Speaker 1: the prep notes that I had, and I had him

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Speaker 1: at thirty, which I think is too low. And I

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Speaker 1: just think he looks like he's ready to really go

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Speaker 1: up a level this year. I thought he looked amazing

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Speaker 1: with the offense ran through him. He locked thirteen assists

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Speaker 1: to just one turnover against the Jazz, making nice kickout

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Speaker 1: reads out of post ups. He has incredible chemistry with

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Speaker 1: the men Thompson. The two of them were running inverted

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Speaker 1: ball screens. He was cutting off of his post ups

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Speaker 1: and on his rolls, he was feeding him in transition

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Speaker 1: like just I think five of his thirteen assists that

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Speaker 1: he had in the game where directly to Amen Thompson.

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant looked very much like a natural fit on

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Speaker 1: both ends of the floor. He missed his first three shots,

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Speaker 1: but then he made seven in a row after that.

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Speaker 1: We saw some looks at the Durant Shangoon two man game.

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Speaker 1: As you guys could see, Utah did not want to switch.

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Speaker 1: I have a feeling in general teams are not gonna

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Speaker 1: want to switch that that's gonna get Katie all sorts

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Speaker 1: of opportunities to score getting downhill in ball screens as

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Speaker 1: as well as opportunities to play make out of those situations.

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Speaker 1: He scored off ball as well, very much in the flow.

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Speaker 1: We're going to talk about Ace Bailey in a minute,

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Speaker 1: and it's so funny because I actually see Ace Bailey

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Speaker 1: in a lot of ways in terms of the fit

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Speaker 1: in an offense. I want to see him attack in

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Speaker 1: similar ways to the way that Kevin Durant does. Very

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Speaker 1: much like tough shot making, but in the flow of

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Speaker 1: the offense, which I think is a very important part

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Speaker 1: of like making you easy to plug and play into

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Speaker 1: any situation. But Kadie plugs in super nicely into the

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Speaker 1: offense without having to like co op the ball away

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Speaker 1: from uh Shangu or anything along those lines. A mean

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Speaker 1: Thompson got lots of chances to attack off the bounce,

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Speaker 1: and it wasn't perfect. There were a couple plays that

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Speaker 1: went nowhere, but he got into the lane a ton

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Speaker 1: and when he gets in the lane with the amount

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Speaker 1: of speed that he has, a lot of good things

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Speaker 1: can happen. I really liked his attacks and semi transition,

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Speaker 1: like before the defense is really set, if he has

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Speaker 1: space and he can get to like a move and

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Speaker 1: a counter move. He's just so athletic that most of

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Speaker 1: these dudes just can't hang with him in space, and

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Speaker 1: you got to see a lot of that. Jabari Smith

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Speaker 1: is shooting the ball super well, which again, like you know,

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Speaker 1: it's it's kind of a redundancy, and it reminds me

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Speaker 1: the Lakers, where you basically have two power forwards that

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Speaker 1: need to start. But Jabari's shooting is so immensely valuable

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Speaker 1: in this system that desperately needs shooting that I actually

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Speaker 1: think it's gonna work Obviously there's some things they are

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Speaker 1: gonna have to figure out in terms of how to

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Speaker 1: guard against certain types of teams that can really space

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Speaker 1: them out with speed. We'll see there are gonna be

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Speaker 1: different types of matchups that they play, because you know,

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Speaker 1: when you have shanngouon Durant and Jabari Smith not a

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Speaker 1: ton of foot speed on that front line, but they'd

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Speaker 1: be able to, you know, counter that with switching and

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Speaker 1: having your help set up funneling in the right direction,

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Speaker 1: and just having really strong off ball principles. Right. So, like,

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Speaker 1: I think there's some parts that they're gonna have to

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Speaker 1: work out, but Jabari's shooting is just too valuable in

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Speaker 1: that group, a group that needs shooting. Reach Shepherd. It's

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Speaker 1: interesting his on ball reps weren't that good, like as

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Speaker 1: a creator, but I thought he defended like super super well,

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Speaker 1: Like I've been really impressed by read Shepherd's just activity

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Speaker 1: on defense, the speed he puts on his closeouts to

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Speaker 1: chase guys off the line, his ability to slide and

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Speaker 1: stay in front of the ball and on ball situations

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Speaker 1: and slap down to the basketball without fouling. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's funny because I don't think he's even close to

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Speaker 1: being ready to handle the on ball stuff that this

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Speaker 1: team needs. But I do think he's the perfect guy

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Speaker 1: to start with this group simply because what he is

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Speaker 1: right now is a high floor three and D option.

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Speaker 1: He's gonna hit his and shoots when they're open, and

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Speaker 1: he's a guy that can guard the ball. So I

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Speaker 1: actually think in the meantime he does give them a

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Speaker 1: really good fit with that starting lineup in just in order.

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Speaker 1: It's just one of those things where when you're talking

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Speaker 1: about a potential championship ceiling, like contending with the Okacs

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Speaker 1: and the Denvers of the world, that's where it gets

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Speaker 1: a little more complicated and you start to think you

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Speaker 1: need a better ball handler there, and maybe he becomes

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Speaker 1: that one day. I just don't think he's gonna be

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Speaker 1: there this year, but I do see a lot of strong,

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Speaker 1: like foundational stuff as an on ball defender, an off

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Speaker 1: ball defender, and as an off ball score Again, I'm

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Speaker 1: not gonna allow myself to have like a super passionate

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Speaker 1: opinion about the Rockets here, because we just need to

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Speaker 1: see more like there will be teams that can really

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Speaker 1: protect the rim that will sag off of the right guys,

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Speaker 1: and that will make life difficult for this offense. I

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Speaker 1: do want to see what that looks like. But my

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Speaker 1: gut feeling after watching that game was that I overestimated

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Speaker 1: how much the loss of Fred van Vliet would hurt

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Speaker 1: this team. And if they go into next week and

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Speaker 1: they look great in their first five games or so,

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Speaker 1: it's not gonna take me much to vault them up

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Speaker 1: to the top of that second tier of contenders in

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Speaker 1: the Western Conference. I was really really impressed by how

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Speaker 1: they looked, but again, we'll see after we get some

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Speaker 1: more data against some better competition. Quick thoughts on Ace

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Speaker 1: Bailey nineteen for twenty nine so far from the field

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Speaker 1: in preseason, I have loved how Utah's used him. They're

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Speaker 1: basically channeling his aggression and his tough shot making into

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Speaker 1: structured offense. Like he's being hyper aggressive, but almost all

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Speaker 1: of it is coming with an advantage, like curling off

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Speaker 1: of off ball screens, so he has really simple reads.

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Speaker 1: Big doesn't step up go all the way to the rim.

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Speaker 1: Big is, you know, kind of conceding the pull up

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Speaker 1: but waiting on you to drive. Take the little short

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Speaker 1: jump shot right. They dig down off the wing, make

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Speaker 1: the kickout. It makes very simplified reads for him. He's

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Speaker 1: taking threes off of like relocations and in transition, so

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Speaker 1: they're pretty good looks from three. Even his tough shot

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Speaker 1: making is coming in the flow of the offense. He

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Speaker 1: hit this like left shoulder fade against the Jazz that

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Speaker 1: came off of a baked in driving lane that I

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Speaker 1: thought was a classic example of what I'm talking about here.

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Speaker 1: So he's on the left wing. I can't remember who

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Speaker 1: has the ball. I think it's like Keyantae George or

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Speaker 1: something like that. And he's on the left wing and

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Speaker 1: his man is digging down into nail help. So just

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Speaker 1: imagine him standing there on the wing with the defender

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Speaker 1: on his right side pretty far off of him. Right

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Speaker 1: swing pass comes to him. What do we talk about

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Speaker 1: all the time on swing passes? On nail help. There's

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Speaker 1: a baked in driving lane. You don't need to do

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Speaker 1: anything or make some sort of complicated read catch and

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Speaker 1: rip because the defender's sprinting off your other side, so

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Speaker 1: like he's not squared up with you where you've got

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Speaker 1: to make a move to beat him. The move is

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Speaker 1: already the window. The driving lane is already there. It's

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Speaker 1: the left handed rip, and so he catches on the

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Speaker 1: wing and he rips left and the defender who is

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Speaker 1: guarding him makes a super aggressive recovery move back towards

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Speaker 1: the left handed drive, which easily sets up the spin

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Speaker 1: over him his left shoulder, and he gets tons of

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Speaker 1: separation and knocks down a short, little like twelve foot

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Speaker 1: left shoulder fade away. That's a tough shot like that

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Speaker 1: left shoulder fade away, but because it's coming out of

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Speaker 1: an advantage situation that baked in driving lane pushing to

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Speaker 1: his left, it's actually a much easier shot than if

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Speaker 1: it's one on one. Everyone's standing around and he's breaking

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Speaker 1: the dude down off the bounce to get to a

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Speaker 1: left shoulder fade. The defender's probably gonna be more physical

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Speaker 1: with him and bump him on his spin a little

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Speaker 1: bit more, which is going to affect his balance, and

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Speaker 1: now he's not gonna get as much lift on the turnaround,

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Speaker 1: and that means it's gonna put a lot more emphasis

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Speaker 1: on the top of the shot, which makes it more difficult,

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Speaker 1: which makes it less likely that he makes it right.

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Speaker 1: Like everyone thinks of tough shot making is something that

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Speaker 1: has to be like like four guys standing around in staring,

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Speaker 1: not necessarily like you can be a tough shot maker

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Speaker 1: in the flow of offense. I mean, how Kevin Duran

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Speaker 1: has literally made a career out of that sort of thing,

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Speaker 1: And so that was the most encouraging thing to me.

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Speaker 1: Like it's early, and obviously with his shot diet, he's

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Speaker 1: gonna have cold stretches like Ace is gonna have games

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Speaker 1: where he doesn't make shots and maybe a few games

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Speaker 1: in a row. But in the flow of the offense

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Speaker 1: like this, he's going to get easier shots. That's s

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Speaker 1: the like you you look at the Jazz and their

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Speaker 1: decision to draft Ace Bailey is risky, right, Why was

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Speaker 1: it risky? It was risky because the stuff from Rutgers

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Speaker 1: wasn't pretty. The offense and the defensive tape was in pretty.

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Speaker 1: There was highlights on the offensive end, there are highlights

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Speaker 1: on the defensive end, but percentage wise and a lot

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Speaker 1: of the decision making it wasn't pretty. Utah made a

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Speaker 1: bet that that was a Rutgers problem, not an Ace

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Speaker 1: Bailey problem, that hey, we can bring a sin and

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Speaker 1: have him play serious basketball. Was a real structure and

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Speaker 1: he's gonna thrive. And again it's super early, but the

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Speaker 1: early returns are that Ace can score the basketball and

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Speaker 1: structured NBA offense, and that to me is super encouraging.

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Speaker 1: But I mean, if you're a Jazz fan, this is

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Speaker 1: where it gets super exciting. I thought he was amazing

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Speaker 1: on defense, and like, when you're a tough shot maker,

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Speaker 1: there's gonna be games where you don't make shots. And

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Speaker 1: if you're a bad defensive player who has a night

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Speaker 1: where you're missing shots, it can be destructive for your team.

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Speaker 1: But if you're a guy who is a high defensive

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Speaker 1: floor and you're competing in the margins and you have

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Speaker 1: a rough shooting night, that's still a good game. And

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Speaker 1: then when you have the strong defensive foundation and you're

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Speaker 1: knocking down shots, that's when you're contributing at an all

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Speaker 1: star level. He started the game on KD, and it

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Speaker 1: was the on ball stuff in particular that impressed me.

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Speaker 1: He started the game on KD and he's like sidling

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Speaker 1: up over the top of screens and applying real back

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Speaker 1: pressure on KD, forcing him into some pretty tough pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shots. At first, I was like, Okay, well

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Speaker 1: Kd's slower, what about a quicker player. Well, he gets

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Speaker 1: a mental on a ball screen and he beats over

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Speaker 1: the top of the screen, stays on him, and Thompson's

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Speaker 1: side waits for him to expose the ball and slaps

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Speaker 1: the ball away off of his leg. And I'm sitting

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Speaker 1: there watching it, and I'm like, this is like a

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Speaker 1: legitimate defensive talent that we're seeing come together focused in

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Speaker 1: an on ball roll. Now we'll see how does it

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Speaker 1: go when he goes against teams that are better at screening.

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Speaker 1: How does it go when he's in situations where he's

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Speaker 1: taxed more off the ball. There's a lot more that

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Speaker 1: goes into defense than just guarding pick and roll on

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Speaker 1: the ball. But when I was watching that, I was like, man,

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Speaker 1: if he can score the basketball in the structure of

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Speaker 1: NBA offense and he can guard the ball at various

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Speaker 1: different types of ball handling talents, that's like a really

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Speaker 1: high level talent there. And it's just exciting for the

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Speaker 1: Jazz because the Jazz just they needed a bit of

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Speaker 1: real optimism, like a guy who was truly capable of

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Speaker 1: being a franchise altering talent. I'll admit I was skeptical

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Speaker 1: after the pick. I've said it on the show The

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Speaker 1: stuff from Rutgers wasn't pretty, but like, I actually see

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Speaker 1: a little glimmer of hope, now real glimmer of hope

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Speaker 1: that exists in the form of Ace Bailey as like

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Speaker 1: a franchise altering talent for Utah and that was that

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Speaker 1: was really really exciting to watch. Katie spoke very highly

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Speaker 1: of him after the game as well. Today's show is

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Speaker 1: or Virginia. All right, let's go a little bit further

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Speaker 1: north to the Dallas Mavericks. This is one of the

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Speaker 1: teams that I was most excited to watch in preseason

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Speaker 1: because they have such an interesting configuration. And there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of buzz coming out of the Oklahoma City game

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Speaker 1: because they thrashed him in the first half. And so

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Speaker 1: I went this morning and I watched the first half

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Speaker 1: of both of their games against Oklahoma City and against Charlotte,

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Speaker 1: and there was a ton of interesting stuff to get into.

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Speaker 1: So I want to start with Cooper flag because he's

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Speaker 1: the guy who's giving Dallas fans so much to be

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Speaker 1: exciting about. Excited about, right, The most impressive thing by

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Speaker 1: far with Cooper is just his ability to make reads

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Speaker 1: on both ends of the floor. He's a playmaker. He'll

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Speaker 1: jump a passing lane first deal and spark a fast

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Speaker 1: break and then make a great read for an open

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Speaker 1: three or for a layup. He'll make a backside rotation

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Speaker 1: and block a guy at the rim that leads to

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Speaker 1: a fast break that leads to a lob dunk for

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. He'll slide his feet. One on one, he

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Speaker 1: had to play against Colin Sexton where he beat him

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Speaker 1: to the spot, stonewalled him so hard that literally Colin

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Speaker 1: just lost control of the basketball and it sparks a

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Speaker 1: break going the other way. That's a defensive playmaking that

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Speaker 1: comes from his IQ in combination with his supreme physical

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Speaker 1: gift compared to most people his size. And then on offense,

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Speaker 1: he just takes the reads that are available to him.

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Speaker 1: And this was something that stood out to me in

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Speaker 1: his Duke tape as well as its Summer League. He

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Speaker 1: doesn't over complicate things. He probes the defense with the

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Speaker 1: dribbler coming off of screening action, whatever it is, and

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Speaker 1: when he probes the defense, he just takes what's there.

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Speaker 1: If there's an open kickout, he throws it. There's a

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Speaker 1: drop off, he throws it. If there's a guy trailing

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Speaker 1: the play, he'll hit the trailer. He just takes the

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Speaker 1: easy pass and then he relocates out and gets ready

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Speaker 1: to get the basketball again. Like he's the definition of

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Speaker 1: a wheel greaser for an offense. I think we'll see

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Speaker 1: some offenses down the line in his career when he's

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Speaker 1: really surrounded by lots of talent where that particular trait

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Speaker 1: comes to the forefront and he really greases the wheels

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Speaker 1: for a great offense. I mean, we saw a version

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Speaker 1: of that in twenty twenty four with Jason Tatum with

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Speaker 1: the Celtics, where he was around a ton of talent,

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Speaker 1: and he's kind of like the perfect star for that

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Speaker 1: talent because he just keeps the ball moving by making

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Speaker 1: simple reads right. And i think the level of read

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Speaker 1: and react to play that we're seeing from Cooper Flag

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Speaker 1: is basically unheard of for rookies. And I've just been

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Speaker 1: super impressed by his floor game over the course of

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Speaker 1: the Over the course of the first couple of preseason

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Speaker 1: games that he's played, he's actually second on the team

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Speaker 1: and assists so far behind D'Angelo Russell. The jump shot

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Speaker 1: looks amazing. I'll be a small sample, obviously, he's only

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Speaker 1: taking nine of them, but he's five for nine overall,

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Speaker 1: and eight of those nine were off the dribble. He's

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Speaker 1: five for eight on off the dribble jump shots. He's

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Speaker 1: two for four from the mid range. Overall, he's three

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Speaker 1: for five from three. He's showing it in all sorts

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Speaker 1: of situations, like he's hitting pull up threes in ISO

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Speaker 1: guy sagging off, he just kind of takes a hop

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Speaker 1: step and elevates knocks down the jump shot. In ball

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Speaker 1: screens going to his left against drop against Oklahoma City,

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Speaker 1: he hits a pull up three going to his right

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Speaker 1: against drop against Charlotte, he hits a pull up three's.

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Speaker 1: That's that combo footwork going both ways off of ball

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Speaker 1: screens that you need to hit. He had a couple

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Speaker 1: of really high level mid range ISO jump shots in

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Speaker 1: the Charlotte game. One behind the back move against LaMelo

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Speaker 1: hard drive to the left, snatch dribble back, just sheds

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Speaker 1: LaMelo off and just elevates and knocks down that little

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Speaker 1: jump shot moving towards his right. Did it again, not

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Speaker 1: off of a pullback dribble, but off of just like

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Speaker 1: a one dribble pull up push dribble to the right

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Speaker 1: against Miles Bridges. You can tell kind of like Devin

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Speaker 1: Booker like, there's some of these right handed A lot

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Speaker 1: of right handed shooters are more comfortable going towards their left.

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Speaker 1: I personally am more comfortable going towards towards my left,

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Speaker 1: especially when I'm running into a shot. It's just easier

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Speaker 1: footwork to plant that right foot and than your left foot.

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Speaker 1: But there are certain players that, for whatever reason, are

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Speaker 1: more comfortable going to the right as a right handed player.

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Speaker 1: Devin Booker's talked about this a lot. He talks about

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Speaker 1: how it's about his elevation. He really gets lyft because

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Speaker 1: he knows he needs to square up in mid air,

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Speaker 1: and so it just engages his lower body more on

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Speaker 1: the shot and he can rise up and knock those

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Speaker 1: shots down. It kind of feels similar for Cooper flag

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Speaker 1: it seems like he's more comfortable going aggressively towards his

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Speaker 1: right and then just left right plant get as much

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Speaker 1: elevation as he can and rise up and knock down

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Speaker 1: the shot. Again. Obviously, it's early and all eyes will

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Speaker 1: be on the jump shot for Cooper, but a really

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Speaker 1: good start for him in preseason. He's just gonna be

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Speaker 1: an awesome player for a long time. And I'm very

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Speaker 1: happy for MAVs fans because they just had the year

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Speaker 1: from hell and Cooper I'm sure takes some of the

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Speaker 1: sting off of that. Looking at the team on both

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Speaker 1: ends is a little more mixed results for me. Let's

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Speaker 1: start with the defense. I'm a big believer in Dallas's defense.

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Speaker 1: In the big picture, I would be stunned if Dallas

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Speaker 1: was like healthy this year and they weren't in the

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Speaker 1: top six or seven. But I think they got some

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Speaker 1: work to do to get there. I was skeptical after

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Speaker 1: the first half against Oklahoma City, just simply because Oklahoma

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Speaker 1: City is devoid of offensive talent once you get off

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Speaker 1: of their stars, right, like the shooting and ball handling talent,

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Speaker 1: and okay, see, he just isn't there compared to other

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Speaker 1: teams in the league after their stars. It's a big

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Speaker 1: part of why I'm not as high on them as

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Speaker 1: some of my peers in the business. Like, I still

431
00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:56,000
Speaker 1: view them as a top tier contender, but I don't

432
00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:58,000
Speaker 1: view them as a runaway favorite the way that some

433
00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:02,320
Speaker 1: people in the business do coming into this season. And

434
00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:04,320
Speaker 1: when I watched that game, it just looked a lot

435
00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:08,479
Speaker 1: like Oklahoma City's bad offensive players trying to score over trees. Right,

436
00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:11,840
Speaker 1: Because Dallas is so huge, right, Charlotte provided a very

437
00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:15,240
Speaker 1: different challenge. Right. You have a real offensive engine talent

438
00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:18,960
Speaker 1: in LaMelo Ball. You have some talented shooting and finishing

439
00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:21,959
Speaker 1: talent off the ball, and LaMelo just fried him up.

440
00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,240
Speaker 1: He fried the Mavericks in that game. He had a

441
00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:28,800
Speaker 1: one forty two offensive rating the Hornets had in twenty

442
00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:31,359
Speaker 1: three minutes when LaMelo was on the floor. That's obviously

443
00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,879
Speaker 1: nightmarish for Dallas's defense. And I want to start on

444
00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:36,600
Speaker 1: LaMelo for a second. It's funny because we just did

445
00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:39,760
Speaker 1: our season preview on Charlotte and I talked about how

446
00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,720
Speaker 1: I'm kind of out on LaMelo as a franchise cornerstone.

447
00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:47,320
Speaker 1: He's just his injury history and there's a general air

448
00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:49,720
Speaker 1: of unseriousness with him, which I think is tough to

449
00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:52,320
Speaker 1: build a team around. But I remained a huge believer

450
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,240
Speaker 1: in like his natural talents as an offensive engine in

451
00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,639
Speaker 1: this league. And boy did LaMelo demonstrate that in this game.

452
00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:03,160
Speaker 1: He picked them apart with pull up threes and floaters

453
00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:06,360
Speaker 1: in the lane and driving layups through traffic where he's

454
00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:09,680
Speaker 1: like weaving through two seven footers and getting left handed

455
00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:14,040
Speaker 1: reverse layups. He was absolutely demolishing Max Christy in this game,

456
00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:16,040
Speaker 1: like taking it personal, how he wanted to kind of

457
00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:19,960
Speaker 1: humiliate him in this game. Beautiful pass after beautiful pass.

458
00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:23,280
Speaker 1: He never seems to miss a read. He always seems

459
00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:25,720
Speaker 1: to put the perfect touch and location on his pass

460
00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:27,720
Speaker 1: to set his teammates up to score. There's one with

461
00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:30,520
Speaker 1: Brandon Miller. I think it was an offensive rebound and

462
00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:32,639
Speaker 1: LaMelo catches up on the left wing and Brandon kind

463
00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:35,640
Speaker 1: of flashes to the middle of the floor and LaMelo

464
00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:40,040
Speaker 1: like throws the ball high and towards the rim, basically

465
00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:43,119
Speaker 1: leading Brandon in his catch into a layup. And I

466
00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:44,480
Speaker 1: was like, that's a little thing where like, if he

467
00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:47,360
Speaker 1: just throws him the ball there, that's probably a fifteen

468
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:51,000
Speaker 1: foot jump shot and that has a roughly fifty percent

469
00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:53,679
Speaker 1: chance of going in right. But by leading him to

470
00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:56,080
Speaker 1: the basket with the pass, it actually led to a layup.

471
00:22:56,119 --> 00:22:57,960
Speaker 1: These are the kinds of little things that like the

472
00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:01,120
Speaker 1: transcendently great passers in the league are always so good

473
00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:03,800
Speaker 1: at the touch on that beautiful lob pass he threw

474
00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:05,800
Speaker 1: to Miles Bridges on the back cut, like he just

475
00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:09,920
Speaker 1: he's just such a gifted offensive player. And it's funny

476
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,920
Speaker 1: because LaMelo can really transform me into a grouchy old

477
00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:17,600
Speaker 1: man who's yelling from the porch sometimes and I hate that.

478
00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,639
Speaker 1: But at the same time, I'm not a denier of

479
00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:23,119
Speaker 1: his talent. The talent is real. It's just a question

480
00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,280
Speaker 1: of can he start to become the type of serious

481
00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:29,720
Speaker 1: player that builds a competitive culture for a Charlotte team

482
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:32,719
Speaker 1: that's been bad and can he stay on the floor.

483
00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:34,760
Speaker 1: Those are the two things that he needs to address

484
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,679
Speaker 1: in order to really in order for me to believe

485
00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:41,080
Speaker 1: in him as a franchise altering talent again. But really

486
00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:44,080
Speaker 1: going back to Dallas, what LaMelo and the Hornet's exposed

487
00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:48,360
Speaker 1: in this phase of Dallas's defensive development was their lack

488
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:52,919
Speaker 1: of attentiveness and effort and quickness on the perimeter. The

489
00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:56,920
Speaker 1: interior defense is gonna be ridiculous. We've seen sequences where

490
00:23:56,920 --> 00:23:59,320
Speaker 1: they just it seems like they have four rim protectors

491
00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:01,400
Speaker 1: on the floor and no one can get a shot off.

492
00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:03,200
Speaker 1: They had to stretch in the second quarter of the

493
00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:05,159
Speaker 1: Hornets game. Just the second quarter of the Hornets game,

494
00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:07,640
Speaker 1: they had five blocks. Like, there's gonna be a lot

495
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,080
Speaker 1: of moments like that where their interior defense is frightening.

496
00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:13,000
Speaker 1: That's gonna be easy for them, but they do have

497
00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:15,400
Speaker 1: a lot of work to do outside the paint. There's

498
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:20,720
Speaker 1: a tendency with bigger interior players versus smaller, quicker perimeter players.

499
00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:23,600
Speaker 1: There's a tendency with some of those bigger players to

500
00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:26,520
Speaker 1: give up catch and shoot openings, and we've seen a

501
00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:29,400
Speaker 1: lot of that so far with Dallas. So like, for example,

502
00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:35,840
Speaker 1: simple interchanges or screening actions. Guards they're so used to

503
00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:39,399
Speaker 1: guarding dudes who can shoot really well since they were kids,

504
00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:42,480
Speaker 1: that they're usually up to touch, like they're up on

505
00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:44,439
Speaker 1: the other side waiting for the guy coming off, and

506
00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:48,280
Speaker 1: they don't concede easy openings out of those things. Bigs

507
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:50,960
Speaker 1: have a tendency to kind of soft switch, like, yeah,

508
00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:52,480
Speaker 1: I'm here. If you try to turn the corner, you're

509
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:54,560
Speaker 1: gonna run right into me. But like, if you want

510
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:56,359
Speaker 1: to come off with that dribble handoff and shoot, like

511
00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:59,600
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let you take it. And NBA players are

512
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:01,960
Speaker 1: really d good and they're gonna knock that shot down.

513
00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,320
Speaker 1: Like there's another level of shooting talent throughout the league

514
00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:07,400
Speaker 1: compared to what it was like five ten years ago, right,

515
00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:09,880
Speaker 1: And like that's why you know, when you have more

516
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:12,320
Speaker 1: bigs on the floor, you have fours playing the three

517
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,200
Speaker 1: and five's playing the four, they're gonna be guarding guys

518
00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:17,399
Speaker 1: that can shoot better than they're typically used to guarding.

519
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,640
Speaker 1: And so you know that even goes into help defense situations.

520
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:24,040
Speaker 1: Guards they're so used to guarding shooters, they'll get a

521
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:26,359
Speaker 1: foot in the paint and they'll dig down and they'll

522
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:28,679
Speaker 1: sprint out to the perimeter with urgency because they've been

523
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:30,720
Speaker 1: guarding shooters their whole life, and they just know how

524
00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:33,200
Speaker 1: to get back out to the perimeter, and like Bigs,

525
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,199
Speaker 1: they have a habit of sagging into the paint to

526
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:38,760
Speaker 1: help and like not having that same level of urgency

527
00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:40,359
Speaker 1: to get back out to the perimeter. And there just

528
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:43,439
Speaker 1: were a lot of situations like that where Dallas was

529
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:47,000
Speaker 1: giving up pretty easy over the top catch and shooter

530
00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:49,680
Speaker 1: off the dribble jump shots because they just weren't bringing

531
00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:54,280
Speaker 1: that level of perimeter intensity from their front court positions. Overall,

532
00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:56,800
Speaker 1: in the first half of both of their games, Dallas

533
00:25:56,840 --> 00:26:00,439
Speaker 1: gave up forty catch and shoot jump shots just in

534
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,320
Speaker 1: the first half of the two games. As a team

535
00:26:04,119 --> 00:26:08,000
Speaker 1: in both games. In total, they're averaging allowing thirty five

536
00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:10,920
Speaker 1: catch and shoot looks per game, that ranks sixth worst

537
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:14,119
Speaker 1: in the NBA so far in preseason. That that's a

538
00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:16,600
Speaker 1: big part of that, like perimeter intensity that they're gonna

539
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:18,840
Speaker 1: have to pick up on. And the main culprit here

540
00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,960
Speaker 1: on film has actually been Anthony Davis. And I'm gonna

541
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,760
Speaker 1: try really hard to not overreact here, but in general,

542
00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:28,480
Speaker 1: I've just been super disappointed in ad to start this

543
00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,440
Speaker 1: training camp. On the one hand, I'm not super surprised

544
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:33,600
Speaker 1: because this is exactly what it was like with the Lakers.

545
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:36,320
Speaker 1: He'd always come into camp out of shape and unpolished,

546
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:39,320
Speaker 1: and it always took forever for him to like really

547
00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:42,879
Speaker 1: find his groove. But I'm especially disappointed this year just

548
00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,760
Speaker 1: because I thought he'd come out for blood, Like, dude,

549
00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 1: you just got traded. I thought you'd come into camp

550
00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:51,200
Speaker 1: in the best shape of your life, with a new opportunity,

551
00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:54,600
Speaker 1: legitimately a better roster than when you last played in

552
00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:58,359
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, like probably the best like overall talented roster

553
00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:01,880
Speaker 1: you've been on in years, a real opportunity to win

554
00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:03,920
Speaker 1: the title if Kyrie Irving can come back towards the

555
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,080
Speaker 1: end of the season, and especially if you hit on

556
00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:09,080
Speaker 1: some sort of roster balancing trade and you came into

557
00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:13,320
Speaker 1: camp fatter than you've ever been. And it hasn't been

558
00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:16,680
Speaker 1: pretty on film, Like he's bricking jumpers, he's throwing these

559
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:19,320
Speaker 1: aimless drives where he just smokes layups and falls on

560
00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:22,760
Speaker 1: the ground and cries for fouls. On defense, he was

561
00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:26,639
Speaker 1: legitimately awful against Charlotte. He got fried by Miles Bridges

562
00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:28,879
Speaker 1: because he just wasn't paying attention to him half the time,

563
00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:33,040
Speaker 1: batching his screen coverages, not being up to touch against shooters,

564
00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:35,879
Speaker 1: he's just not locked in right now. And again, I

565
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,560
Speaker 1: know it's just preseason, and I probably sound ridiculous right now,

566
00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:42,480
Speaker 1: but I just thought we'd see a different version of

567
00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:46,720
Speaker 1: AD this year. I'm a huge believer in Anthony Davis's sailing.

568
00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:49,320
Speaker 1: I've talked about it so many times on the show.

569
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:51,720
Speaker 1: I think he was the best defender in the league

570
00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:54,119
Speaker 1: when he was healthy and locked in before Victor Wemenyama

571
00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:57,000
Speaker 1: came around. He's like an efficient twenty six points per

572
00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,680
Speaker 1: game when he's healthy and locked in on offense. And

573
00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:04,280
Speaker 1: like I just I believe in what he can be

574
00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:07,000
Speaker 1: and what he is when he's healthy, But this stuff

575
00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:10,640
Speaker 1: just gets so frustrating. And like, again, one thing I'll

576
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:14,480
Speaker 1: say about the oh, it's just preseason thing, he looks

577
00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:18,239
Speaker 1: like this in the regular season sometimes too, And this

578
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:21,639
Speaker 1: team is going nowhere fast unless they can get Anthony

579
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:24,640
Speaker 1: Davis like locked in, focused and playing to the level

580
00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:26,960
Speaker 1: he's capable of. And so I hope this is me

581
00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:29,840
Speaker 1: just being ridiculous, and I hope that this is AD

582
00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:32,440
Speaker 1: just coasting in preseason and that he comes out in

583
00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,479
Speaker 1: the regular season and he kicks ass, and this Dallas

584
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:40,120
Speaker 1: team has something to really show the league. But overall,

585
00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:43,160
Speaker 1: I just have been disappointed with the level of like

586
00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:47,200
Speaker 1: conditioning and just engagement from Anthony Davis and the preseason

587
00:28:47,240 --> 00:28:48,960
Speaker 1: games that I've seen to this point. Maybe it looks

588
00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:51,479
Speaker 1: way better behind closed doors in camp, I don't know,

589
00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:54,920
Speaker 1: but I've just been a little disappointed overall with Dallas's defense.

590
00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:56,880
Speaker 1: Though again, I think they're gonna be fine. They just

591
00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:58,840
Speaker 1: have some work to do, and I think they are

592
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:02,480
Speaker 1: gonna have some trouble with quick Their backcourt is slow, right,

593
00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:06,160
Speaker 1: like Dlo and Clay. That's not a foot speed machine, right,

594
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:08,880
Speaker 1: And even when Max Christie gets in the game, they

595
00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:11,520
Speaker 1: have him chase over the top. And as soon as

596
00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:14,000
Speaker 1: Max got caught on the screen and LaMelo got downhill,

597
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:17,800
Speaker 1: LaMelo did whatever he wanted, scoring in the mid range

598
00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:21,480
Speaker 1: and knifing around bigs in space and getting to the rim, right,

599
00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:23,719
Speaker 1: So like they're gonna have to figure something out for that.

600
00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:25,560
Speaker 1: I think a potential solution there is to do more

601
00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:28,960
Speaker 1: switching and then just basically have your big setup to

602
00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:31,560
Speaker 1: try to contest pull up threes, and then if they

603
00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:34,680
Speaker 1: do get beat on the dribble, like funneling them in

604
00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:36,760
Speaker 1: a specific direction where your health defense can be a

605
00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:40,680
Speaker 1: little bit more prepared, but overall, like overall, I just

606
00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:43,640
Speaker 1: think they're pretty far from what they need to be defensively,

607
00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:48,400
Speaker 1: Like they need to be a truly elite defense in

608
00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:50,200
Speaker 1: order for Kyrie to come in and make this team

609
00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:53,520
Speaker 1: a serious championship contender. They have the personnel for it.

610
00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 1: I do believe they'll get there. I just think right

611
00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:57,840
Speaker 1: now on the perimeter, they've got some work to do,

612
00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:00,600
Speaker 1: and Charlotte kind of expose them a little bit in

613
00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:04,560
Speaker 1: that particular game. On offense, predictively, predictably, they've struggled. But

614
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:06,640
Speaker 1: I do like some of the stuff I'm seeing. Like

615
00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,320
Speaker 1: we talked about Cooper flags shooting and passing earlier, that's

616
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:11,920
Speaker 1: a positive. I haven't loved all of the shots that

617
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:14,320
Speaker 1: Delo's taken. I think he's been a little too aggressive,

618
00:30:14,520 --> 00:30:16,280
Speaker 1: but I do think overall, you can see how his

619
00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,000
Speaker 1: handling and his playmaking will be high value with this team.

620
00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:22,680
Speaker 1: Jason Kidd is clearly heavily emphasized bat cutting, which I

621
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:24,880
Speaker 1: think is super smart. When you don't have a ton

622
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:26,560
Speaker 1: of ball handling and you need to get the ball

623
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:31,360
Speaker 1: into the paint, manufacturing penetration with cutting is a great

624
00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:32,720
Speaker 1: way to do that as long as you have guys

625
00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:35,480
Speaker 1: who can pass, and like Derek Glively can pass, Anthony

626
00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:38,640
Speaker 1: Davis can pass, your bigs can pass pretty well. D'Angelo

627
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:41,520
Speaker 1: Russell's hit Max Christy on like five bat cuts already,

628
00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:44,320
Speaker 1: right But you're also seeing some of the clunkiness. Like

629
00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:47,440
Speaker 1: we talked about earlier, Ad right now is not even

630
00:30:47,480 --> 00:30:49,960
Speaker 1: close to polished enough offensively to play the four. That's

631
00:30:49,960 --> 00:30:51,440
Speaker 1: gonna be something they're gonna have to figure out. He

632
00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:53,480
Speaker 1: just has to get better. You can see that on

633
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:55,920
Speaker 1: his drives. They look kind of aimless, and he looks

634
00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:59,720
Speaker 1: slow on his drives. His jumper looks nasty right now.

635
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:02,800
Speaker 1: The lack of ball handling is forcing guys like Cooper

636
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,240
Speaker 1: and Delo to take some tough shots. That's something that

637
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:07,720
Speaker 1: stood out to me early, Like Cooper's taking some tough

638
00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:09,920
Speaker 1: off the dribble shots. He's hitting them right now, But

639
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,000
Speaker 1: Delo's had to take some too. That's a tough shot,

640
00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:14,360
Speaker 1: diet And as a team, they just don't have very

641
00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:17,280
Speaker 1: much shooting. So far through preseason. They're twenty nine for

642
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:19,920
Speaker 1: ninety one on all jump shots. That's just zero point

643
00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:23,040
Speaker 1: eighty seven points per possession. So teams will eventually just

644
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:25,360
Speaker 1: start packing the pain on them. And like even the

645
00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:27,840
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City game, like they got most of their back

646
00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:31,600
Speaker 1: cuts in the OKAC game because OKAC is pressuring and denying.

647
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:35,120
Speaker 1: But when when a guy denies, it's easy to backcut.

648
00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:36,720
Speaker 1: But what if the guy doesn't deny and he just

649
00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:39,400
Speaker 1: SAgs in the paint, Then those backcuts aren't open, and

650
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:41,120
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, it's going to be about guys

651
00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:45,520
Speaker 1: being able to really process an interior passing and knocking

652
00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:47,480
Speaker 1: down shots over the top, which is a weakness for

653
00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:51,360
Speaker 1: this particular team, right, one last positive thing that all

654
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:54,240
Speaker 1: that I want to end on. Though, they're going to

655
00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:57,760
Speaker 1: struggle to score, right, which is why it's important for

656
00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:00,600
Speaker 1: them to be a top tier defense, like we talked about.

657
00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:05,200
Speaker 1: But they have looked awesome in transition, and this is

658
00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:08,959
Speaker 1: the potential for this team. All of their bigs and

659
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:13,000
Speaker 1: forwards run the floor super well, and they get so

660
00:32:13,120 --> 00:32:16,000
Speaker 1: many opportunities to run out because they force a lot

661
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:18,120
Speaker 1: of jump shots and they're gonna get a lot of

662
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:20,760
Speaker 1: blocks and deflections and things like that that lead to

663
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:25,160
Speaker 1: runouts in those situations, they're making great raids. Both Cooper

664
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:27,560
Speaker 1: and d Lo have been great with their passing leads

665
00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:31,080
Speaker 1: in transition situations. Cooper's made set. A bunch of his

666
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,240
Speaker 1: assists have come in transition. D Lo hit that lob

667
00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 1: to Cooper in the first half of the Charlotte game.

668
00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:41,200
Speaker 1: If they are a truly elite, top tier defense and

669
00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:45,440
Speaker 1: they use that to be a dominant transition team and

670
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:48,760
Speaker 1: Kyrie comes back and polishes them up in the half

671
00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:51,280
Speaker 1: court a little bit, that's where they become a serious

672
00:32:51,320 --> 00:32:55,440
Speaker 1: threat out in the Western Conference. All right, let's talk

673
00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:57,760
Speaker 1: about the Boston Celtics for a little bit. I watched

674
00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:00,400
Speaker 1: the first half of their game mans Cleveland. They with

675
00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:04,920
Speaker 1: the Pritcher Derek White, Jalen Brown, Sam Houser, Chris Bouchet lineup.

676
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:07,680
Speaker 1: They use a bigger version of that lineup with Xavier

677
00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:09,880
Speaker 1: Tillman the last time they played their starters. But I

678
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:14,200
Speaker 1: actually liked this lineup a lot in a couple of reasons. Bouchet,

679
00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:17,520
Speaker 1: excuse me. He brings like that willingness and ability to

680
00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 1: take and make above the break threes. He took three

681
00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:22,000
Speaker 1: of them in the game and made two. He shot

682
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,240
Speaker 1: them all pretty well in preseason so far. He also

683
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:27,200
Speaker 1: just generally brings more like foot speed and switchability to

684
00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:29,120
Speaker 1: those lineups, and they're going to have to play fast,

685
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:31,000
Speaker 1: and they generally are playing pretty fast, and so I

686
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:34,040
Speaker 1: think that that is something that will fit that starting

687
00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:37,120
Speaker 1: lineup really well. You can feel that emphasis on transition

688
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:41,800
Speaker 1: speed through the Celtics first couple of preseason games pretty

689
00:33:41,800 --> 00:33:45,280
Speaker 1: heavily right off the bat. Though, before we talk about

690
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:47,320
Speaker 1: some of the details for the Celtics, I just want

691
00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 1: to shout out both of these teams for their intensity

692
00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:53,880
Speaker 1: in this game. Right from the jump. Both teams were

693
00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:57,040
Speaker 1: competing at an insanely high level and playing in a

694
00:33:57,080 --> 00:33:59,239
Speaker 1: way that was consistent with their identities. And by the way,

695
00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:02,120
Speaker 1: I didn't mention it earlier, I'm talking about the Cleveland game.

696
00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:06,760
Speaker 1: Both teams came out guarding like crazy and like pressuring

697
00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:09,640
Speaker 1: the ball. Cleveland's like pressuring all the way up to

698
00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:12,560
Speaker 1: half court and Larry Nts is like jumping passing lanes

699
00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:15,000
Speaker 1: out on like bigs that are flashing for a high

700
00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:18,240
Speaker 1: post catch. They again, that's a big part of their identity,

701
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:21,759
Speaker 1: right turner for forcing turnovers and getting out in transition

702
00:34:22,200 --> 00:34:25,600
Speaker 1: on offense, Cleveland is like cutting and moving without the

703
00:34:25,640 --> 00:34:28,440
Speaker 1: ball super well, and like running like crazy to get

704
00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:32,040
Speaker 1: out in transition whenever they can. Boston playing super high

705
00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:38,400
Speaker 1: level smart NBA offense, like simple advantage creation, driving closeouts,

706
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:41,879
Speaker 1: extending advantages and knocking down and taking every quality three

707
00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:44,600
Speaker 1: that can get their eyes on. They hung seventy points

708
00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:46,000
Speaker 1: on the Caves and again, like I know, they didn't

709
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,600
Speaker 1: have their usual personnel out there, but they were like

710
00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:50,879
Speaker 1: that cas defense was playing super hard and they were

711
00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:53,680
Speaker 1: pressuring and flying around in rotation one like they were

712
00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:57,120
Speaker 1: just letting Boston score. I just want to compliment both

713
00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:01,360
Speaker 1: teams because I think they represent very strong basketball cultures.

714
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:04,759
Speaker 1: I know there's this tendency to see a lot of

715
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:07,319
Speaker 1: teams kind of going through the motions in preseason and

716
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:10,520
Speaker 1: for us to be like, ah, whatever, like it's fine,

717
00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:13,640
Speaker 1: it's preseason. It's gonna be a long eighty two games.

718
00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:16,719
Speaker 1: This is a marathon, not a sprint. All that shit, right,

719
00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:21,560
Speaker 1: I personally have never bought into that idea. I recognize

720
00:35:21,560 --> 00:35:24,960
Speaker 1: it as a human reality, like every one of the

721
00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:27,880
Speaker 1: NBA's thirty teams will have nights where their heart just

722
00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:30,279
Speaker 1: isn't in it. I'm not, you know, denying that as

723
00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:32,960
Speaker 1: a reality, but I just don't think you can win

724
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:38,560
Speaker 1: an NBA championship without a dead serious culture that approaches

725
00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:41,560
Speaker 1: things day to day with a level of intensity and

726
00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:44,840
Speaker 1: a desire to get better. There are a few exceptions

727
00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:49,080
Speaker 1: over the years, repeat champions usually those that will like

728
00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:52,160
Speaker 1: kind of ease their way through the season. But those teams,

729
00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:57,040
Speaker 1: all those repeat champions have had huge talent advantages to

730
00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:00,960
Speaker 1: cover for their lack of intensity. For the most part,

731
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:04,560
Speaker 1: you have to be a serious team that from day

732
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:08,239
Speaker 1: one of training camp is attacking things in order to

733
00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:11,440
Speaker 1: get to where you want to go. And what's fascinating

734
00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:14,000
Speaker 1: to me about these two particular cultures, Boston and Cleveland

735
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:18,399
Speaker 1: is it shows what the roster changes. Boston's missing Jason

736
00:36:18,440 --> 00:36:21,800
Speaker 1: Tatum and from last year Drew Holliday and Al Horford

737
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:25,520
Speaker 1: and Chris tops Porzingi's core parts of that culture. But

738
00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:29,680
Speaker 1: the Celtics just play basketball a certain way. It's part

739
00:36:29,719 --> 00:36:31,759
Speaker 1: of who they are as an organization, and that is

740
00:36:31,800 --> 00:36:35,360
Speaker 1: translated to this year even with new and different personnel.

741
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:39,440
Speaker 1: The Cavs are sitting all their starters, but their basketball

742
00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:42,480
Speaker 1: culture is so strong that the next dudes in line

743
00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:45,759
Speaker 1: come out and compete their asses off. Even though they

744
00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:48,279
Speaker 1: were hopelessly outgunned in terms of talent. They didn't have

745
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,040
Speaker 1: the shot creation talent to generate good shots in this

746
00:36:51,080 --> 00:36:54,319
Speaker 1: particular game, right, Like we saw Proctor quite a bit

747
00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:57,920
Speaker 1: and Porter Junior and those guys were struggling, but like

748
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:01,359
Speaker 1: the team was moving and run and in pressuring and

749
00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:06,440
Speaker 1: denying and flying around and like just playing really good basketball.

750
00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:08,719
Speaker 1: I think that these two teams represent two of the

751
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:12,719
Speaker 1: strongest basketball cultures in that conference. I should add Indiana

752
00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:15,080
Speaker 1: the Pacers to this list as well. I'm just I

753
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:19,160
Speaker 1: didn't watch that particular game. I don't think their consistent

754
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:21,960
Speaker 1: success as an accident. I think it is bred top

755
00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:26,080
Speaker 1: down by organizational excellence day to day in their process.

756
00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:28,320
Speaker 1: And I just wanted to shout those teams out. But anyway,

757
00:37:28,560 --> 00:37:31,520
Speaker 1: really impressed by Boston. I love the defensive pressure on

758
00:37:31,560 --> 00:37:34,280
Speaker 1: the perimeter. I know they have severe front court limitations.

759
00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:36,640
Speaker 1: I think we saw that mostly on the glass, like

760
00:37:36,680 --> 00:37:40,960
Speaker 1: Cleveland had twenty one offensive rebounds in this game. Overall,

761
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:44,640
Speaker 1: Boston's defensive rebounding percentage in preseason is sixty four point

762
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:47,160
Speaker 1: three percent, which is really bad. That's bottom six in

763
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:49,640
Speaker 1: the league right now so far through preseason. But that's

764
00:37:49,840 --> 00:37:52,320
Speaker 1: the reality of the personnel limitations. Jason Tatum was like

765
00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:54,120
Speaker 1: a Swiss army knife that covered a lot of those

766
00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:57,040
Speaker 1: problems on the glass, and then your center rotation fell

767
00:37:57,040 --> 00:37:58,960
Speaker 1: off a cliff this year compared to last year. Right,

768
00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:02,800
Speaker 1: But they do have an athletic strength on the roster

769
00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:06,520
Speaker 1: on the perimeter, and that shows up in their ball pressure,

770
00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:09,680
Speaker 1: in their ability to force turnovers like they forced twenty

771
00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:12,800
Speaker 1: one turnovers so far per game in preseason, which is awesome.

772
00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:16,160
Speaker 1: It also helps in their ability to fetch long rebounds, right,

773
00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:18,840
Speaker 1: Like you shoot a lot of threes, which means a

774
00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:21,600
Speaker 1: lot of long rebounds, and their foot speed can win

775
00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:24,080
Speaker 1: those battles for long rebounds. And so for all their

776
00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:27,960
Speaker 1: defensive rebounding struggles, the Celtics have grabbed thirty nine percent

777
00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:31,560
Speaker 1: of their own misses to make up for it. So

778
00:38:31,640 --> 00:38:33,239
Speaker 1: like that's gonna be a margin where they're gonna have

779
00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:36,479
Speaker 1: some success. A lot of encouraging stuff on offense though,

780
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:40,680
Speaker 1: like Peyton Pritchard looks amazing and poise for a breakout

781
00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:43,040
Speaker 1: season in a starting role. He blit up the caves

782
00:38:43,080 --> 00:38:46,000
Speaker 1: to start this game. Anthonty Simons has shot the ball

783
00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:48,719
Speaker 1: well and he's competing on defense like he's trying he's

784
00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:51,560
Speaker 1: pressuring the ball. He's doing at least trying to do

785
00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:54,040
Speaker 1: what Missoula is asking him to do. By one big

786
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:56,680
Speaker 1: disappointment with Anthony so far is that he hasn't generated

787
00:38:56,719 --> 00:39:00,400
Speaker 1: much dribble penetration yet. It's something that I was hoping

788
00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:02,399
Speaker 1: he'd bring to the table, and he seemed to kind

789
00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:05,200
Speaker 1: of retreat against ball pressure and want to attack ball

790
00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:07,960
Speaker 1: pressure with like aggressive step back moves to get the

791
00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:10,200
Speaker 1: threes instead of like beating those dudes off the dribble.

792
00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:12,320
Speaker 1: But it's early, we'll see if that changes in a

793
00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:15,960
Speaker 1: larger sample. Jalen Brown's been pretty mediocre so far. Actually,

794
00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:18,319
Speaker 1: it looked like the Cleveland game was like moving too

795
00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:21,960
Speaker 1: fast for him, which is obviously strange, and it's we

796
00:39:22,000 --> 00:39:23,880
Speaker 1: know Jalen Brown. The game doesn't move too fast for

797
00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:25,799
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown. He's fine. It's just a sign that he's

798
00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:28,399
Speaker 1: probably a bit too relaxed right now, and I think

799
00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:30,239
Speaker 1: that will change as he gets into the flow of

800
00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:33,000
Speaker 1: the season. But overall, I'm encouraged about Boston as a

801
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:35,799
Speaker 1: middle tier Eastern Conference team. They have one of the

802
00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:39,640
Speaker 1: more talented perimeter cores in the conference. They have extremely

803
00:39:39,719 --> 00:39:42,400
Speaker 1: strong basketball culture, which will help them on the margins.

804
00:39:42,440 --> 00:39:45,040
Speaker 1: Like whatever margin they lose with their lack of front

805
00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:48,240
Speaker 1: court talent, it will be mitigated to a certain extent

806
00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:53,880
Speaker 1: by strong modern fundamentals. Ball pressure, transition, pushes high value

807
00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:57,839
Speaker 1: shot profile threes and layups right, strong offensive rebounding, winning

808
00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:00,400
Speaker 1: the possession battle, or at least counteract some of the

809
00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:02,200
Speaker 1: possession battle problems they'll have on the other end of

810
00:40:02,239 --> 00:40:04,960
Speaker 1: the floor. I think Celtics fans will really enjoy rooting

811
00:40:04,960 --> 00:40:07,719
Speaker 1: for this team. By the way, if you missed our

812
00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:09,919
Speaker 1: full season preview, you can find that on the Hoops

813
00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:13,359
Speaker 1: Tonight channel under Atlantic Division Season Preview. You can find

814
00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:16,960
Speaker 1: that there. I also did an hour long season preview

815
00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:19,080
Speaker 1: with Adam Taylor, friend of mine who covers the Celtics

816
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:22,919
Speaker 1: in the UK. We went into extreme detail on every

817
00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:26,680
Speaker 1: Celtics storyline, including all their position groups. You can find

818
00:40:26,719 --> 00:40:31,279
Speaker 1: the link to that podcast, Adams Podcast on my Twitter feed.

819
00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:33,759
Speaker 1: If you go back to October eighth, you'll find that

820
00:40:33,840 --> 00:40:39,600
Speaker 1: I tweeted out the link there. All right, quick thoughts

821
00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:42,160
Speaker 1: on Lakers Warriors. I'm only gonna go a couple minutes

822
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:43,959
Speaker 1: here and then I want to tell you guys about

823
00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:47,120
Speaker 1: a new book that I recommend So on the Lakers front,

824
00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:49,560
Speaker 1: we got a really good look at the value of

825
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:53,719
Speaker 1: DeAndre in short range scoring. We got a good, like

826
00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:56,880
Speaker 1: high volume sample of Austin reeves DeAndre and pick and

827
00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:59,120
Speaker 1: roll in this game. And he also ran quite a

828
00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:01,480
Speaker 1: few handoffs with j Laravia and Dalton connect and so

829
00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:03,279
Speaker 1: Aiden got a lot of catches in the middle of

830
00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:05,680
Speaker 1: the floor, and he showed it all there, catch and

831
00:41:05,719 --> 00:41:09,840
Speaker 1: shoot mid rangers at the elbow, turnarounds over his right shoulder,

832
00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:13,799
Speaker 1: out of the post, floaters in the lane. He's just

833
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:16,399
Speaker 1: gonna be such an important release valve for this team

834
00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:18,920
Speaker 1: there in the middle of the floor. Like the vertical

835
00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:21,200
Speaker 1: spacing piece. You could tell they struggle to get even

836
00:41:21,239 --> 00:41:24,160
Speaker 1: Austin struggles to kind of find the lob angles for him.

837
00:41:24,520 --> 00:41:26,640
Speaker 1: It's gonna be a Luca thing. Luca's gonna be the

838
00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:29,719
Speaker 1: guy that really unlocks DeAndre as a like above the

839
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:33,160
Speaker 1: rim vertical spacer. But he's gonna be a release valve

840
00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:35,960
Speaker 1: for everybody in the middle of the floor. Think like Isaiah Hartenstein,

841
00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:38,719
Speaker 1: think like what Jared Allen does for the calves. The

842
00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:41,400
Speaker 1: ability to do that like short range to like short

843
00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:45,120
Speaker 1: mid range scoring, that's just that's the release valve for

844
00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:46,600
Speaker 1: these guys. When they get into the lane, they could

845
00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:49,000
Speaker 1: pitch it back and Aiden can just elevate over the

846
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:52,040
Speaker 1: top and knock down a short shot which can which

847
00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:54,560
Speaker 1: can be a real ceiling razor for that offense. I

848
00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:57,120
Speaker 1: also thought his short role reads were solid rast night,

849
00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:01,280
Speaker 1: Like this was an area that I had with Ayton

850
00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:03,000
Speaker 1: watching the film, was like, is he gonna be able

851
00:42:03,040 --> 00:42:06,120
Speaker 1: to make the short range reads? And like last night

852
00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:09,279
Speaker 1: again one game, just preseason, but I thought he was

853
00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:11,319
Speaker 1: really good in the middle of the floor last night,

854
00:42:11,600 --> 00:42:14,640
Speaker 1: making like patiently waiting for the opening on the weak

855
00:42:14,719 --> 00:42:17,960
Speaker 1: side and making the right kickouts. He had just five

856
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:20,879
Speaker 1: assists to one turnover in that game. He had eight

857
00:42:20,920 --> 00:42:23,880
Speaker 1: rebounds and three stocks in just twenty six minutes. A

858
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:26,560
Speaker 1: really nice night from Mayden and a good representation of

859
00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:29,040
Speaker 1: how much better he is than the centers that were

860
00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:31,799
Speaker 1: playing for the Lakers after the Anthony Davis trade last year.

861
00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:35,520
Speaker 1: Austin looked great again. Only real concern with him is

862
00:42:35,560 --> 00:42:37,719
Speaker 1: he appeared to tweak his ankle on the weird kind

863
00:42:37,719 --> 00:42:42,000
Speaker 1: of transition collision with Brandon Pajemski. So hopefully Austin's all right.

864
00:42:42,600 --> 00:42:44,840
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt missed all four of his threes, but I

865
00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:46,640
Speaker 1: still like the way the release looks, and he does

866
00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:49,160
Speaker 1: look amazing athletically. He had two drives to the rim,

867
00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:50,520
Speaker 1: one where he made a layup and one where he

868
00:42:50,560 --> 00:42:52,560
Speaker 1: missed a layup but got his own put back that

869
00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:55,319
Speaker 1: were super athletic plays and just a reminder that he's

870
00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:57,680
Speaker 1: a different player than the guy that we saw last

871
00:42:57,760 --> 00:43:00,640
Speaker 1: year playing for the Lakers. The news, of course, though,

872
00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:02,879
Speaker 1: is that Lebron is going to be out to start

873
00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:07,640
Speaker 1: the season with sciatica. It looks like that can arise

874
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:10,320
Speaker 1: from something in the muscle or something in the back.

875
00:43:10,719 --> 00:43:13,399
Speaker 1: I'm not sure which of the two he's specifically dealing with,

876
00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:16,160
Speaker 1: but from what I hear, it can be pretty debilitating,

877
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:19,480
Speaker 1: and so obviously it's a huge bummer. My first thought

878
00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:21,000
Speaker 1: when that happened was like, oh, man, I hope this

879
00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:25,080
Speaker 1: isn't the beginning of the end. But secondly, even though

880
00:43:25,080 --> 00:43:28,399
Speaker 1: we can acknowledge that this Lakers team has no championship

881
00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:31,320
Speaker 1: ceiling without Lebron, even though it was a thin window

882
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:36,240
Speaker 1: to begin with, I'm reasonably optimistic about the Lakers' ability

883
00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:39,200
Speaker 1: to compete in the regular season and just stay afloat

884
00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:41,320
Speaker 1: for a month or two without him, and one of

885
00:43:41,360 --> 00:43:44,120
Speaker 1: the reason why is because the one position where they

886
00:43:44,120 --> 00:43:48,840
Speaker 1: are redundant with starting level talent is the power forward spot.

887
00:43:49,719 --> 00:43:52,440
Speaker 1: They don't have a starting caliber two way wing that

888
00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:54,880
Speaker 1: can play the two or the three, but they have

889
00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:58,560
Speaker 1: like three dudes who can play the four right, and

890
00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:01,479
Speaker 1: two of them at a starting less in Lebron James

891
00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:04,200
Speaker 1: and Ruby Hachimura right. And so I actually kind of

892
00:44:04,239 --> 00:44:08,320
Speaker 1: see it in a strange way, kind of like landing

893
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:12,560
Speaker 1: into a Van do Oh Rui three four setup, because

894
00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:14,960
Speaker 1: on the one hand, you need a guy who can

895
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:18,279
Speaker 1: guard the ball to start every game. That's something that

896
00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:20,960
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt can do at an extremely high level. Right

897
00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:25,040
Speaker 1: you have you got to have someone that can guard fors,

898
00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:27,839
Speaker 1: be a low man, help defensive rebound, that sort of thing.

899
00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:31,040
Speaker 1: Rui can do that job. When he's at the three

900
00:44:31,160 --> 00:44:33,000
Speaker 1: and he's asked to cover on the perimeter more, it

901
00:44:33,040 --> 00:44:35,560
Speaker 1: can be exposed as a major weakness for Rui, but

902
00:44:35,960 --> 00:44:38,640
Speaker 1: at the four, it's actually a more achievable defensive role

903
00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:41,040
Speaker 1: for him. He's been on the record in training camp

904
00:44:41,120 --> 00:44:44,839
Speaker 1: and in media appearances saying my natural position is the four,

905
00:44:44,960 --> 00:44:49,800
Speaker 1: and so I look at like Austin, Luca, Ruey vand

906
00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:52,840
Speaker 1: Oh and Ayton is a lineup that makes some sense

907
00:44:52,920 --> 00:44:56,160
Speaker 1: to me for starters, Like that's the luxury of having

908
00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:59,000
Speaker 1: a guy like Austin, you know, like when it was

909
00:44:59,040 --> 00:45:01,120
Speaker 1: the Anthony Davis can figuration of the team, he was

910
00:45:01,160 --> 00:45:04,120
Speaker 1: so important as a primary shock crator on the floor

911
00:45:04,200 --> 00:45:07,520
Speaker 1: alongside Lebron. But then you brought Luca into the equation

912
00:45:07,640 --> 00:45:10,600
Speaker 1: and in many ways Austin was marginalized a bit, right,

913
00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:13,520
Speaker 1: But with Lebron being out, it's like, all of a sudden,

914
00:45:13,600 --> 00:45:16,719
Speaker 1: Austin's ability to like run high volume pick and roll

915
00:45:16,840 --> 00:45:20,960
Speaker 1: DeAndre Ayton is super valuable. That that's a real value

916
00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:22,960
Speaker 1: add for this team, a luxury to have a guy

917
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:25,440
Speaker 1: like Austin Reeves, right, you have a guy who can

918
00:45:25,440 --> 00:45:28,240
Speaker 1: guard the ball and Jared Vanderbilt. You have weak side

919
00:45:28,280 --> 00:45:30,880
Speaker 1: scoring and pick and roll scoring in the form of

920
00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:34,280
Speaker 1: Ruy Hachimura and DeAndre Ayton. You have two high level

921
00:45:34,280 --> 00:45:37,040
Speaker 1: shot creators. Obviously, they're not going to be as good

922
00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:39,040
Speaker 1: as if they had Lebron. And we have a question

923
00:45:39,080 --> 00:45:41,000
Speaker 1: in our mail bag on Friday that has to deal

924
00:45:41,040 --> 00:45:43,120
Speaker 1: with like what the starting lineup should look like? When

925
00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:45,239
Speaker 1: they're healthy, and we'll talk about that when we get there,

926
00:45:46,280 --> 00:45:49,480
Speaker 1: But like, that is a lineup that makes some sense.

927
00:45:50,280 --> 00:45:52,040
Speaker 1: And then you go to the bench and it's like

928
00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:55,920
Speaker 1: Gay Vincent is a guy that you know, ideally you

929
00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:58,080
Speaker 1: don't want him to be your third best ball handler,

930
00:45:58,120 --> 00:46:00,839
Speaker 1: but he can be the third best ball handler for

931
00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:03,440
Speaker 1: a month when you need him to. Right in a

932
00:46:03,520 --> 00:46:07,319
Speaker 1: regular season context, Jake Lavia is a solid wing to

933
00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:11,719
Speaker 1: bring off the bench. Obviously you have Jackson Hayes and

934
00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:14,640
Speaker 1: Marcus Smart. Like, it's not a team that's gonna go

935
00:46:14,800 --> 00:46:17,080
Speaker 1: rip off and go ten and two over a twelve

936
00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:19,680
Speaker 1: game span. That's not what I'm saying. But can they

937
00:46:20,480 --> 00:46:24,080
Speaker 1: stay afloat in the Western Conference and have Lebron come

938
00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:27,879
Speaker 1: back when they're ten and eight and you know, two

939
00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:30,719
Speaker 1: games back of the three seed, Like, yeah, I think

940
00:46:30,719 --> 00:46:33,000
Speaker 1: they can. I think that's something that they can do.

941
00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:35,800
Speaker 1: And so, in a weird way, I'm bummed about the

942
00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:39,080
Speaker 1: Lebron news, but like, it literally doesn't make sense for

943
00:46:39,160 --> 00:46:42,160
Speaker 1: Lebron to come back until he's one hundred percent recovered.

944
00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:45,440
Speaker 1: The Lakers have the pieces to be just a coherent

945
00:46:45,520 --> 00:46:49,280
Speaker 1: basketball team without him. Right now, they only have value

946
00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:53,160
Speaker 1: in Lebron as like a top tier, like as a

947
00:46:53,200 --> 00:46:55,239
Speaker 1: second team All NBA type of guy that he was

948
00:46:55,320 --> 00:46:57,040
Speaker 1: last year. That's the level he's got to be trying

949
00:46:57,040 --> 00:46:59,040
Speaker 1: to get back to. So I think it makes sense

950
00:46:59,080 --> 00:47:00,960
Speaker 1: for Lebron to just take his time until he's one

951
00:47:01,040 --> 00:47:05,120
Speaker 1: hundred percent recovered. On the Warriors front, we got a

952
00:47:05,160 --> 00:47:08,920
Speaker 1: steady diet of on ball Kaminga in this one with

953
00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:11,520
Speaker 1: Steph Out It was pretty rough. He was turnover machine.

954
00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:13,919
Speaker 1: There were some bright spots, like he had some quick,

955
00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:16,680
Speaker 1: efficient ISO attacks, like some baseline drives and post ups.

956
00:47:16,960 --> 00:47:19,120
Speaker 1: He hit Pat Spencer on an inverted ball screen for

957
00:47:19,120 --> 00:47:21,040
Speaker 1: a layup that I thought was an impressive read. And

958
00:47:21,120 --> 00:47:22,440
Speaker 1: you know, we've seen a little bit of that with

959
00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:24,680
Speaker 1: Steph where him and Steph have some of that two

960
00:47:24,760 --> 00:47:27,040
Speaker 1: man game chemistry where Steph Wull screened for him, but

961
00:47:27,440 --> 00:47:30,160
Speaker 1: he came off and Pat Spencer slipped into the lane

962
00:47:30,160 --> 00:47:32,560
Speaker 1: and Kaminga just rifled the pass up high where only

963
00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:34,640
Speaker 1: Pat can get it. Pat caught it and got a layup.

964
00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:39,120
Speaker 1: Really nice game from Brandon Pajemski. He found a nice

965
00:47:39,160 --> 00:47:41,200
Speaker 1: rhythm in ball screens in the second half, started to

966
00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:43,440
Speaker 1: hit like his pull up jump shot as guys were

967
00:47:43,440 --> 00:47:45,239
Speaker 1: sagging off him. He found real good rhythm with his

968
00:47:45,320 --> 00:47:48,120
Speaker 1: jump shot, big quality kickout reads when he got down

969
00:47:48,160 --> 00:47:50,960
Speaker 1: into the lane. As the Laker defense reacted to him,

970
00:47:51,000 --> 00:47:53,080
Speaker 1: He's kicking out to the right guys on the perimeter.

971
00:47:53,920 --> 00:47:57,839
Speaker 1: I you know, it's funny because I was on a

972
00:47:57,960 --> 00:48:02,560
Speaker 1: light Year's playback video that they had last week and

973
00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:05,239
Speaker 1: Sam's FONDIARRII Tal asked me, he goes which one of

974
00:48:05,239 --> 00:48:08,320
Speaker 1: the young players do you think has the most pressure

975
00:48:09,000 --> 00:48:12,400
Speaker 1: between you know, guys like Moses Moody and Jonathan Kaminga

976
00:48:12,400 --> 00:48:15,920
Speaker 1: and Brandon Pajemski, And I actually think it's Brandon because

977
00:48:17,160 --> 00:48:20,080
Speaker 1: you know, for all of the needs that they have

978
00:48:20,280 --> 00:48:23,520
Speaker 1: for Moses at that position, really they just need him

979
00:48:23,520 --> 00:48:26,160
Speaker 1: to guard the ball and to knock down catch and

980
00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:28,759
Speaker 1: shoot jump shots and to make decent reads. That's all

981
00:48:28,760 --> 00:48:30,840
Speaker 1: they need for Moses Moody. They need him to be,

982
00:48:31,640 --> 00:48:34,120
Speaker 1: you know, seventy five percent of what Andrew Wiggins has

983
00:48:34,160 --> 00:48:37,200
Speaker 1: been over the course of previous seasons, and like, that's

984
00:48:37,239 --> 00:48:40,080
Speaker 1: like a really achievable goal for Moses Moody. And if

985
00:48:40,080 --> 00:48:43,640
Speaker 1: he lands seventy percent instead of seventy five percent of

986
00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:46,600
Speaker 1: that player, it's not going to dramatically shift the fortunes

987
00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:50,200
Speaker 1: of the team. But like that type of player, that

988
00:48:50,400 --> 00:48:56,040
Speaker 1: like secondary perimeter score off of Steph Curry has been

989
00:48:56,080 --> 00:49:00,480
Speaker 1: a absolute necessity over the years when the Warriors have

990
00:49:00,520 --> 00:49:04,640
Speaker 1: competed for championships, whether it was Jordan Poole in twenty

991
00:49:04,680 --> 00:49:07,520
Speaker 1: twenty two who would come in and lead units, whether

992
00:49:07,600 --> 00:49:11,560
Speaker 1: it was Kevin Durant in twenty seventeen to twenty eighteen,

993
00:49:12,040 --> 00:49:15,400
Speaker 1: whether it was Klay Thompson and Sean Livingston and Andrew

994
00:49:15,440 --> 00:49:21,200
Speaker 1: Robosa in twenty fifteen, Like they need reliable scoring in

995
00:49:21,239 --> 00:49:23,879
Speaker 1: the backcourt off of Steph Curry. Now there's a more

996
00:49:23,880 --> 00:49:27,600
Speaker 1: complicated conversation to have, Like Sam Aftly pointed out, like, well,

997
00:49:27,880 --> 00:49:30,080
Speaker 1: what the hell are we paying Jimmy Butler sixty million

998
00:49:30,080 --> 00:49:32,600
Speaker 1: dollars for if he's not going to be that guy.

999
00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:34,680
Speaker 1: But like, to me, I look at I look at

1000
00:49:34,719 --> 00:49:38,080
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler as more of like a do a little

1001
00:49:38,080 --> 00:49:40,640
Speaker 1: bit of everything kind of guy and not a pure

1002
00:49:40,680 --> 00:49:44,440
Speaker 1: scorer in the in the in the simplest sense of

1003
00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:47,080
Speaker 1: the term. Now, if Jimmy can gets to the point

1004
00:49:47,160 --> 00:49:49,560
Speaker 1: where he's averaging twenty five points per game for a

1005
00:49:49,560 --> 00:49:51,359
Speaker 1: playoff run, then Yeah, now we need to start having

1006
00:49:51,360 --> 00:49:54,280
Speaker 1: a serious conversation about the Warriors as as like a

1007
00:49:54,360 --> 00:49:56,839
Speaker 1: real threat to hoist the trophy. But like I look

1008
00:49:56,880 --> 00:49:58,719
Speaker 1: at Jimmy as like a do everything kind of guy,

1009
00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:01,200
Speaker 1: not as like the purest form of a bucket getter

1010
00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:03,560
Speaker 1: in the modern NBA, right, And so, like there is

1011
00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:06,560
Speaker 1: some pressure on Brandon Pajemski to be a guy who

1012
00:50:06,600 --> 00:50:09,640
Speaker 1: can run the offense and score the ball a little bit,

1013
00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:13,280
Speaker 1: And so there's real pressure on him that I don't

1014
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:15,640
Speaker 1: think exists for a guy like Moody who's basically a

1015
00:50:15,640 --> 00:50:18,560
Speaker 1: three and D guy, or for kaminga who you know,

1016
00:50:18,680 --> 00:50:20,759
Speaker 1: it's kind of like whatever you get from him, you

1017
00:50:20,800 --> 00:50:22,399
Speaker 1: get from him. He doesn't really fit in the big

1018
00:50:22,440 --> 00:50:25,080
Speaker 1: picture of the team, and they're trying to trade him, right. So,

1019
00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:27,840
Speaker 1: like I thought that was a good sign from Brandon Pajemski.

1020
00:50:27,840 --> 00:50:30,040
Speaker 1: He played really well to end the season last year,

1021
00:50:30,160 --> 00:50:32,440
Speaker 1: got a bunch of touches last night, and ran the

1022
00:50:32,480 --> 00:50:34,480
Speaker 1: offense well when he did, especially when he found that

1023
00:50:34,520 --> 00:50:37,120
Speaker 1: groove there in the second half. Some encouraging stuff from

1024
00:50:37,120 --> 00:50:39,560
Speaker 1: Brandon Pajemski there. Before we get out of here today,

1025
00:50:39,560 --> 00:50:42,560
Speaker 1: I just wanted to talk briefly about this Lakers book. Again,

1026
00:50:42,600 --> 00:50:45,239
Speaker 1: I'm not getting paid to say this. I just really

1027
00:50:45,239 --> 00:50:47,239
Speaker 1: think Lakers fans would enjoy this book. The book is

1028
00:50:47,280 --> 00:50:50,920
Speaker 1: called A Hollywood Ending by Yarren Weizman. You can pre

1029
00:50:51,080 --> 00:50:54,239
Speaker 1: order it right now on Amazon. It's officially releasing on

1030
00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:57,560
Speaker 1: opening night on October twenty first, but he was kind

1031
00:50:57,640 --> 00:50:59,640
Speaker 1: enough to send me a copy early, and I finished

1032
00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:01,520
Speaker 1: reading it last week. And to put it very simply,

1033
00:51:02,239 --> 00:51:04,720
Speaker 1: if you're a Lakers fan who rooted for this team,

1034
00:51:05,120 --> 00:51:09,000
Speaker 1: for the lebron Lakers, you absolutely have to read this book.

1035
00:51:09,920 --> 00:51:14,040
Speaker 1: Yarn went to incredible trouble to conduct over two hundred

1036
00:51:14,080 --> 00:51:19,360
Speaker 1: and fifty interviews to basically piece together a remarkably detailed

1037
00:51:19,360 --> 00:51:22,680
Speaker 1: behind the scenes look at everything that happened over those years.

1038
00:51:23,480 --> 00:51:25,480
Speaker 1: And if you're a fan who rooted for the Lakers

1039
00:51:25,680 --> 00:51:29,120
Speaker 1: during that era, it's a fun trip down memory lane,

1040
00:51:29,440 --> 00:51:34,160
Speaker 1: like you'll remember the highs, like the dominant twenty twenty season.

1041
00:51:34,360 --> 00:51:37,319
Speaker 1: There's a lot of fun details from that stretch, but

1042
00:51:37,360 --> 00:51:40,839
Speaker 1: it's also super frustrating to like learn about the insanity

1043
00:51:40,840 --> 00:51:43,080
Speaker 1: that led to their downfall in the years after that,

1044
00:51:43,280 --> 00:51:46,160
Speaker 1: or some of the incompetence in general in the organization.

1045
00:51:46,680 --> 00:51:48,960
Speaker 1: It's a fun trip down memory lane because you get

1046
00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:52,200
Speaker 1: to experience all those emotions again, the good and the bad. Right.

1047
00:51:52,360 --> 00:51:56,080
Speaker 1: It's also super informative. You get detailed backstory for all

1048
00:51:56,120 --> 00:51:59,480
Speaker 1: the major characters in this kind of saga, right, like

1049
00:51:59,520 --> 00:52:02,279
Speaker 1: the Bus family and the role of certain people in

1050
00:52:02,280 --> 00:52:05,360
Speaker 1: the organization, like Tim Harris and Kurt Rambis, who for

1051
00:52:05,400 --> 00:52:10,360
Speaker 1: whatever reason was like shoehorning himself into every coaching staff

1052
00:52:10,400 --> 00:52:14,279
Speaker 1: over the years. And like you learn about Rob Polinka's background,

1053
00:52:14,719 --> 00:52:16,640
Speaker 1: why he may or may not have the reputation he

1054
00:52:16,680 --> 00:52:19,960
Speaker 1: does around the league, Rich Paul's upbringing, why he's wired

1055
00:52:19,960 --> 00:52:23,920
Speaker 1: the way he's wired, Anthony Davis, Like, you just get

1056
00:52:23,960 --> 00:52:27,360
Speaker 1: a ton of perspective on everything, a ton of behind

1057
00:52:27,360 --> 00:52:31,440
Speaker 1: the scenes looks at like the process of major Lakers' decisions,

1058
00:52:31,440 --> 00:52:33,560
Speaker 1: like how they ended up with Russell Westbrook, the fact

1059
00:52:33,560 --> 00:52:36,200
Speaker 1: that he was actually their third option that summer, and

1060
00:52:36,280 --> 00:52:38,279
Speaker 1: kind of a fallback in many ways from the type

1061
00:52:38,320 --> 00:52:41,440
Speaker 1: of player they were looking for. How they lost guys

1062
00:52:41,480 --> 00:52:44,279
Speaker 1: like Brook, Lopez and Alex Caruso. I don't want to

1063
00:52:44,280 --> 00:52:46,160
Speaker 1: spoil the book because it's such a great read, and

1064
00:52:46,640 --> 00:52:49,319
Speaker 1: it just there's a lot of detail that you get

1065
00:52:49,400 --> 00:52:51,440
Speaker 1: if you read it, but I just highly recommend you

1066
00:52:51,440 --> 00:52:54,080
Speaker 1: guys order It's not an overly long read. It's not

1067
00:52:54,120 --> 00:52:57,560
Speaker 1: going to take up the entire year. It's just an

1068
00:52:57,960 --> 00:53:02,120
Speaker 1: amazing recount of everything that recap of everything that happened

1069
00:53:02,120 --> 00:53:04,239
Speaker 1: over the course of that era, and it was it

1070
00:53:04,280 --> 00:53:05,919
Speaker 1: was definitely a great read. I'll give you, guys. It'll

1071
00:53:05,960 --> 00:53:08,920
Speaker 1: like to put it simply. It'll give you guys some

1072
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:11,800
Speaker 1: closure on what it was like rooting for the lebron

1073
00:53:11,840 --> 00:53:15,640
Speaker 1: Lakers over these years. Again a Hollywood ending by Yarn Whitesmith.

1074
00:53:15,640 --> 00:53:18,680
Speaker 1: It releases next Tuesday. You guys can pre order it

1075
00:53:18,760 --> 00:53:20,920
Speaker 1: right now on Amazon. All right, guys, that's all I

1076
00:53:20,920 --> 00:53:22,960
Speaker 1: have for today is always to sincerely appreciate you guys

1077
00:53:23,000 --> 00:53:25,239
Speaker 1: for supporting us and supporting the show. We will be

1078
00:53:25,239 --> 00:53:27,080
Speaker 1: back on Wednesday with our contender rankings and then well

1079
00:53:27,080 --> 00:53:29,319
Speaker 1: have a mailbag on Friday. I will see you guys there.