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Speaker 1: see DKNNG dot co slash ft ball. All right, welcome

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Speaker 1: to Hoops tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Friday, everybody.

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Speaker 1: I hope all of you guys had a great week.

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Speaker 1: Got a jam packed show for you today. Got a

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Speaker 1: little bit of NBA news today. Joel Embiid has signed

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Speaker 1: a three year, one hundred and ninety three million dollars

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Speaker 1: maximum extension, so he's now locked up for the next

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Speaker 1: five years at an average annual salary of sixty million dollars.

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Speaker 1: So we're gonna talk about that a little bit off

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Speaker 1: the top. And then we're continuing with our power rankings

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Speaker 1: today with number fourteen through number twelve season preview style,

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Speaker 1: so we'll be doing season previews on the New Orleans Pelicans,

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Speaker 1: the Golden State Warriors, and the Indiana Pacers. You guys

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Speaker 1: have the drope before we get started. Subscribe to the

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Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more

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Speaker 1: of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason Lts.

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Speaker 1: You guys, don't miss show announcements. Don't forget about a

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Speaker 1: podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight.

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Speaker 1: Don't forget it's also helpful if you leave a rating

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Speaker 1: and a review on that front. And then, last but

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Speaker 1: not least, keep dropping mail bag questions in the YouTube

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Speaker 1: comments so we can keep hitting them throughout the remainder

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Speaker 1: of this year. All right, let's talk some basketball. So

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Speaker 1: the Joel Embiid extension three years, one hundred and ninety

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Speaker 1: three million, locked up for five years at an average

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Speaker 1: annual salary of sixty million, and there's a couple of

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Speaker 1: different angles to look at this from. I understand why

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Speaker 1: Daryl Morey and the Sixers did this. The Sixers have

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Speaker 1: been a disappointing team, right. They haven't achieved as much

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Speaker 1: as certainly people in Philly have hoped for over the

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Speaker 1: course of this last few years. Right. And it got

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Speaker 1: a little weird last year, right, Like we had Joel

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Speaker 1: Embiid showing up with Paul George to a playoff broadcast

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Speaker 1: before that deal was done, which is like a legitimate,

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Speaker 1: like kind of passive aggressive type of pressure move to

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Speaker 1: be like we need more firepower. Right, And it's been

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Speaker 1: a weird saga over the course of the Embiid experience, right,

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Speaker 1: Like we had to hold Ben Simmons thing and how

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Speaker 1: that went south. Obviously, Joel Embiid was very fond of

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Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler and wanted him, and then he ended up

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Speaker 1: getting a Tobias Harris ended up getting preferred over Jimmy

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Speaker 1: Butler over the course of that summer, which ended up

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Speaker 1: being something that Joel Embiid did some passive aggressive stuff

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Speaker 1: kind of surrounding that move. Right. So you're basically it

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Speaker 1: seems as though you're one trade and record like one

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Speaker 1: bad season away from potentially a trade demand. Right. So

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Speaker 1: locking up Joel Embiid helps that in two ways. One,

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Speaker 1: it's a gesture of good faith. Right, You're offering an

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Speaker 1: enormous amount of money to Joel Embiid after the specific

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Speaker 1: season where most of your concerns about Embiid's floor came

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Speaker 1: to the surface, right between him not even playing half

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Speaker 1: the season and not being able to get his team

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Speaker 1: out of the first round and looking like he was

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Speaker 1: wearing down at the end of those Knicks games. Right,

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Speaker 1: So it's an act of good faith after a season

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Speaker 1: like that to offer him such a massive guarantee that

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Speaker 1: builds cachet in that relationship. Right. And then the second

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Speaker 1: piece of it is it makes his contract borderline untradeable

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Speaker 1: in the sense that even where if Embiid were to

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Speaker 1: request a trade it would be difficult to find willing

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Speaker 1: trade partners at that point, which almost kind of further

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Speaker 1: anchors Joel Embiid in Philly. Right. But I also understand

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Speaker 1: the NBA fan base at large and how they would

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Speaker 1: look at this and be like, what the hell are

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Speaker 1: you guys doing, Because now you have, on average for

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Speaker 1: the next four years, over one hundred and ten million

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Speaker 1: dollars guaranteed tied up in Paul George and Joel Embiid,

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Speaker 1: two players who are notoriously hurt all the time. I

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Speaker 1: pulled this thatt this morning. In the last five years

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Speaker 1: combined for those two guys, so ten total seasons, they've

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Speaker 1: reached sixty games three times. Between the two of them

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Speaker 1: combined over the last five years. They're notoriously unavailable, and

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Speaker 1: with exception of little short bursts, both of them notoriously

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Speaker 1: seem to go down a signific level in terms of

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Speaker 1: their winning impact when they get to the postseason. Right. So, like,

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Speaker 1: I think that's fair criticism, and I understand how people

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Speaker 1: from the outside looking in would say that. But this

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Speaker 1: is where we have to be honest about the reality

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Speaker 1: of this situation. The Sixers are in the Joe l.

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Speaker 1: Embiid business. There's really no version of that business that

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Speaker 1: doesn't carry an enormous amount of risk. There's just as

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Speaker 1: much risk in not extending him, because then what if

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Speaker 1: he does end up requesting a trade, what if he

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Speaker 1: does end up testing free agency. There's risk there as

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Speaker 1: as well as well, even if you were to offer

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Speaker 1: him a lower extension like hey, like, hey, we want

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Speaker 1: to lock you up for five years, but you know

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Speaker 1: we're not going to come in at that super max number.

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Speaker 1: Let's see if we can come in somewhere lower. That

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Speaker 1: could just insult the guy. And now you're in the

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Speaker 1: same boat. Right. There was risk in not going after

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Speaker 1: Paul George this summer. It's very possible that if you

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Speaker 1: do nothing this summer, you end up in the same

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Speaker 1: type of situation where Joel Embiid is unhappy and potentially

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Speaker 1: requests to trade. I'm sure if you injected truth serum

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Speaker 1: into Daryl Moury and asked him, like, would you prefer

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Speaker 1: to build around a star who always plays seventy five

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Speaker 1: games and consistently goes up a level in the postseason,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure he would. But that's not the deck of

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Speaker 1: cards that Darryl Moury has been dealt. He took over

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Speaker 1: as general manager of a team that is built around

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Speaker 1: Joel Embiid. When you're building around Joel Embiid, there is

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Speaker 1: inherent risk there. And as soon as you go out

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Speaker 1: of the Joel Embiid business. Let's say you traded him

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Speaker 1: this summer before you extended him when he's more tradable,

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Speaker 1: then you immediately lose all relevance. I like Tyre's Maxy,

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Speaker 1: good young player, but you're not getting Paul George without

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Speaker 1: Joel Embiid. And without Paul George or Joel Embiid, you're

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Speaker 1: a basement of the Eastern Conference type of team. So like,

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Speaker 1: I get it, how from the outside looking in, we

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Speaker 1: might look at it and go man one hundred and

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Speaker 1: ten million guaranteed for the next four years on average

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Speaker 1: annually tied up in two players that routinely miss like

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Speaker 1: at least a third of the season and both struggle

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Speaker 1: in the playoffs. I get why from the outside looking

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Speaker 1: in that looks tricky, But if I was GM of

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Speaker 1: the seventy six ers, I think I'd probably do the

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Speaker 1: same thing, because as soon as you've decided we're building

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Speaker 1: around Joel Embiid. This is kind of the reality of

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Speaker 1: how this works. So to put it simply, Darryl Moury

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Speaker 1: has made an extremely risky series of moves this summer,

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Speaker 1: but his franchise is built around the riskiest star in

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Speaker 1: the league. So it's kind of just the reality of

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Speaker 1: the way you have to do business when you're building

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Speaker 1: around Joel. And there's another side to this, coin that

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Speaker 1: you have to factor in when you're having this conversation.

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Speaker 1: As of right now on DraftKings, the Sixers have the

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Speaker 1: third best odds to win the title. Now I don't

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Speaker 1: have them quite that high, but I have them very high,

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Speaker 1: and I have consistently said that Joel Embiid is one

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Speaker 1: of the small handful of players in the NBA who

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Speaker 1: is capable of legitimately going on a wrecking ball tour

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Speaker 1: and just kicking everybody's ass and getting the trophy. Most

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Speaker 1: gms aren't building around stars that have that type of upside,

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Speaker 1: So maybe those gms can be more risk averse, but

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Speaker 1: they're not winning the trophy anytime soon, right and beat

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Speaker 1: is thirty years old. He has this short window here,

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Speaker 1: probably in that thirty to thirty three age where maybe

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Speaker 1: if everything goes right, you can win the title. After

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Speaker 1: that you're fucked anyway. He's been hurt way too many times,

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Speaker 1: the wear and tear in every on his body. He's

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Speaker 1: not the kind of guy that's gonna be good at

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Speaker 1: thirty seven, thirty eight years old, So you like you're

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Speaker 1: there is no long term window here anyway. This is

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Speaker 1: very much a short get it while you can type

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Speaker 1: of window, so you might as well put all the

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Speaker 1: support you possibly can behind him and see if you

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Speaker 1: can get it done. The last example I would use

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Speaker 1: for this is remember the Kauhi trade to Toronto, and again,

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Speaker 1: like it's not exactly the same type of comparison, but

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Speaker 1: it has some similarities in the sense that everyone around

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Speaker 1: the league knew Kauhi wanted to go to Los Angeles.

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Speaker 1: Everyone around the league knew if you traded for Kawhi

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Speaker 1: that year and you weren't one of the LA teams,

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Speaker 1: that it was a one year rental. There was like

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Speaker 1: that tiny little crack of hope like maybe if you

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Speaker 1: just wow him he might stay. But you can't do

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Speaker 1: any better than Toronto did that summer anyway, and he

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Speaker 1: still left. But here's the thing, Toronto made the trade.

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Speaker 1: Kawhi did leave, and Toronto's been bad ever since, but

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Speaker 1: they have the Larry O'Brian Trophy and that shit is forever.

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Speaker 1: So like, if I'm Daryl Moray, you know how we

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Speaker 1: all know how Daryl Mourray does business too. He's got

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Speaker 1: his algorithm where he basically calculates a percentage chance that

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Speaker 1: he thinks his team has to win the title and

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Speaker 1: most of his decision making his geared towards trying to

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Speaker 1: increase that percentage. There's a lot of potential bad outcomes

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Speaker 1: for the Sixers this year. We all know that maybe

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Speaker 1: Paul George plays fifty games and NB plays forty five

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Speaker 1: games and they end up in the fifth or sixth

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Speaker 1: seed and they lose a first round series. Maybe that's

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Speaker 1: what happens, but there's also like a legitimate pathway here

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Speaker 1: that ends in them holding the trophy. They're a lot

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Speaker 1: closer to the trophy than most of the teams in

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Speaker 1: the league, So once we acknowledge that they're in the

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Speaker 1: high risk, high reward business, I think these moves make

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Speaker 1: a lot of sense. You needed to substantially improve and

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Speaker 1: beat supporting cast this summer. Going after Paul George was

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Speaker 1: the only real way to do that. You need to

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Speaker 1: cement Joel Embiid in Philly to make it so that

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Speaker 1: you have multiple years to try to make this work.

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Speaker 1: Extending him was the best chance to do that. And

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Speaker 1: if I was gm of the six Ers, I would

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Speaker 1: have done the same thing. So I think like it's

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Speaker 1: easy to look at other situations around the league and

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Speaker 1: to be like that situation's better, that situation's better, and

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Speaker 1: you might be right, But Daryl Morey doesn't have the

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Speaker 1: luxury of just cherry picking which situation he wants to

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Speaker 1: be in. He's in Philly. He's got to deal with

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Speaker 1: Philly's hand of cards, and I think these are the

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Speaker 1: right moves within that context. All right, Let's get into

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Speaker 1: our season previews, starting with number fourteen. The New Orleans Pelicans.

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Speaker 1: A lot of turnover for them this summer. They lose

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Speaker 1: Dyson Daniels, Najie Marshall, Larry Nants Junior, Jonas Valanciunas, and

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Speaker 1: Cody Zeller. They had Javonte Green, an athletic wing who

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Speaker 1: played for Chicago last year, Daniel Tice. They drafted Eves

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Speaker 1: Missy in the late first round. He's like an athletic

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Speaker 1: center prospect. And then the major move this summer, they

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Speaker 1: traded for Jontey Murray, obviously giving up in that deal

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Speaker 1: Dyson Daniels and Larry Ant Junior, as well as some

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Speaker 1: draft compensation. He's one of my favorite players in the

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Speaker 1: league and a guy that I desperately wanted the Lakers

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Speaker 1: to get and a guy that I think Pelicans fans

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Speaker 1: will love. So when we're talking about next season, Let's

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Speaker 1: start with Dejonte. Dejontay brings an element to the Pelicans

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Speaker 1: backcourt that they didn't have. Zion obviously brings like real

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Speaker 1: downhill force to his game, but Brandon Ingram and c

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Speaker 1: Jim McCollum didn't or don't, I should say they're still

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Speaker 1: in the roster. They are finesse pull up shooters. They

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Speaker 1: can get to the rim. Brandon got to the rim

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Speaker 1: plenty mostly as part of screening actions. When the coverage

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Speaker 1: has the ability for them to get by their defender

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Speaker 1: and get into the basket area. Those guys can take

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Speaker 1: advantage of that. But they're not like, face up with

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Speaker 1: really good perimeter defenders and get dribble penetration type of guys.

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Speaker 1: That's not what Brandon and CJ do. Dejonte's really good

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Speaker 1: at that. De Jonte can beat good perimeter defenders off

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Speaker 1: the dribble straight up. But he also has the same

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Speaker 1: type of counter in pull up jump shooting situations that

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Speaker 1: Brandon and CJ had. Brandon CJ both shot forty five

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Speaker 1: percent on pull up jump shots last year. De Jonte

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Speaker 1: Murray shot forty five percent on pull up jump shots

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Speaker 1: last year. There were sixteen players in the NBA that

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Speaker 1: attempted at least five hundred pu up jump shots last year.

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Speaker 1: Dejonte's one point zero three points per possession ranked eighth

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Speaker 1: on that list. He was a good, efficient, high volume

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Speaker 1: pull up jump shooter. He was more efficient on pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shots than Damian Lillard was last year. So like,

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Speaker 1: there's a real drive and kick kind of element with

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Speaker 1: Dejonte that you can get in terms of beating people

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Speaker 1: off the dribble and getting people into rotation while also

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Speaker 1: bringing that over the top shot making that has become

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Speaker 1: a staple of what has made the Pelicans good over

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Speaker 1: the years. Right, he made the fifth most clutch shots

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Speaker 1: in the entire NBA last year because of his ability

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Speaker 1: to knock down shots over the top. He's also a

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Speaker 1: good passer. He averaged six assists per game playing next

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Speaker 1: to Trey Young his last season in San Antonio before

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Speaker 1: he came over to Atlanta, he averaged nine point two

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Speaker 1: assists with just two point six turnovers. That's awesome, and

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Speaker 1: more importantly, he just had the best off ball season

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Speaker 1: of his career. He converted spot ups at one point

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Speaker 1: one five points per possession. That's in the seventy ninth

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Speaker 1: percentile out of the thirty seven players in the league

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Speaker 1: to log at least three hundred spot up possessions, he

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Speaker 1: ranked eleventh. That's really really good, and that's something that

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Speaker 1: used to be weakness of his. Now I know there's

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Speaker 1: some hesitancy surrounding him on the defensive end of the floor,

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Speaker 1: and there's some reality there, like he was in all

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Speaker 1: defense caliber guard when he was in San Antonio. Wasn't

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Speaker 1: like that in Atlanta. But I'm a big believer in

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Speaker 1: basketball culture, and Atlanta did not have a defensive minded culture.

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Speaker 1: And so this is a Pelicans team that was top

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Speaker 1: ten in defense last year. It's part of the identity

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Speaker 1: organizationally from the top down if you get buy in again.

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Speaker 1: And then there's also just the sheer amount of offensive

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Speaker 1: talent on this team when you have Trey Murphy, Zion Williamson,

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Speaker 1: Brandon Ingram CJ. McCollum. There's just a lot more ball

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Speaker 1: handling and playmaking ability on this team than Atlanta had,

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Speaker 1: which was a traditional four out, one in your turn,

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Speaker 1: my turn type of offense between two guys. There's gonna

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Speaker 1: be more resources that Dejonte can devote to that end.

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Speaker 1: Of the floor. But yeah, like, if you're asking me,

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Speaker 1: what are some of the swing factors around this deal

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Speaker 1: as to whether or not it'll work extremely well or

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Speaker 1: not as well, one of those major swing factors is

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Speaker 1: going to be does Dejonte defend the way that he's

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Speaker 1: capable of? And that's totally fair to bring up. But

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Speaker 1: I do think that New Orleans is more set up

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Speaker 1: to accentuate that part of Dejonte's game. I think New

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Speaker 1: Orleans has a chance to be a devastating drive and

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Speaker 1: kick team if they utilize Zion at the beginning of

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Speaker 1: possessions to pressure the rim and make kickout passes. And

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Speaker 1: by the way, Dejonte can do the same thing. There's

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Speaker 1: now two layers to that. They have incredible spot up talent.

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Speaker 1: De Jontay Murray one point one to five points per

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Speaker 1: spot up possession. That's insanely good. CJ. McCollum one point

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Speaker 1: three to two points for spot up possession. That was

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Speaker 1: one of the best marks in the league last year.

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Speaker 1: Trey Murphy one point one eight, Brandon Ingram one point

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Speaker 1: oh eight. That's solid. Herb Jones one point oh nine.

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Speaker 1: That's solid. The Pelicans as a team last year we're

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Speaker 1: second in spot up efficiency in the entire league, and

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Speaker 1: you just added another guy who can both capitalize on

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Speaker 1: spot up situation and pressure the rim consistently. I think

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Speaker 1: it's a legitimate offensive upgrade. Now where it gets weird

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Speaker 1: is how does this all fit together? Right? Where does

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Speaker 1: brandon Ingram fit into this? How do you start constructing lineups?

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of talk because Daniel Tye is the

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Speaker 1: only proven NBA center on the roster right now, and

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Speaker 1: he's basically a backup. Right, there's a lot of talk

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Speaker 1: of Zion starting at center. If they start Zion at center,

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Speaker 1: your lineup is Cee, Jim McCollum, de Jontay Murray, Herb Jones,

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Speaker 1: Brandon Ingram, and Zion Williamson. Like, that's a ton of

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Speaker 1: offensive skill, obviously coming with some downsides, right, very small

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Speaker 1: and weak defensively on that front line with the with

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Speaker 1: your forwards, But on the other end of the floor,

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Speaker 1: you're going to be very fast and borderline impossible to

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Speaker 1: guard in space. There's a given a take, right, So, Like,

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Speaker 1: I think it's worth trying throw it out there for

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Speaker 1: twenty thirty games. See what happens if it ends up

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Speaker 1: being an absolute disaster and your defense is not good

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Speaker 1: enough and the offense isn't enough to make up for

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Speaker 1: that gap, then you can get more aggressive about trying

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Speaker 1: to make some sort of consolidation trade and try to

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Speaker 1: turn one of these guys like cj Orbi into somebody

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Speaker 1: that you can use on that frontline to anchor those units.

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Speaker 1: But I think it's worth giving a try, and I

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Speaker 1: think there's enough talent there that even if you dropped

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Speaker 1: some games, like if you lost to Denver or you

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Speaker 1: lost to like another big physical frontline like the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: because you just don't have that size on the front line,

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Speaker 1: but you're still, you know, fifteen and seven because your

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Speaker 1: offense is incredible and you beat the shit out of

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Speaker 1: everyone else. Like that's fine, You're floating along. That's a

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Speaker 1: decision that you can make and deal with in February.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the Knicks are in the same boat with

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Speaker 1: this Julius Randall thing. It's like, yeah, it's a little clunky,

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Speaker 1: don't know how he fits in the grand scheme of things,

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Speaker 1: but like what's the rush. Send them all out there,

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Speaker 1: let him hoop, see what happens. Basketball's more art than science.

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Speaker 1: I talk about this all the time. Like sometimes you

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Speaker 1: just put a bunch of guys together and it just

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Speaker 1: magically comes together, and all of a sudden, it's like,

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Speaker 1: holy shit, what are we watching? And when you've got

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Speaker 1: this kind of talent, it's at least worth throwing these

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Speaker 1: guys out there and just seeing what happens. Now. On

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Speaker 1: the defensive end, it is hard to build any sort

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Speaker 1: of traditional look without a real defensive anchor, a guy

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Speaker 1: that can defend in ball screens in some way, whether

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Speaker 1: it's a high drop or a deep drop or whatever

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Speaker 1: it is that you want to do, and then that

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Speaker 1: can also help control the defensive glass. It's challenging to

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Speaker 1: do without a real center, but there is talent there.

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Speaker 1: You have a lot of length, you have a lot

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Speaker 1: of speed, especially on the perimeter right. You got a

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Speaker 1: lot of guys that can guard at the point of attack.

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Speaker 1: So like, if you don't have a giant guy underneath

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Speaker 1: the basket that can drop in ball screens and defend

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Speaker 1: a grab defensive rebounds, then as a team you have

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Speaker 1: to positionally be ready to protect the paint. What that

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Speaker 1: means is one, you got to can the basketball and

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Speaker 1: control dribble penetration. Another way, you could do that too.

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Speaker 1: By switching ball screens, you can shut off dribble penetration.

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Speaker 1: But it's going to be so much more important on

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Speaker 1: the backside for guys to make their rotations quickly, because

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Speaker 1: if you're going to protect the rim, it's not going

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Speaker 1: to be vertically because you don't have real interior size.

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Speaker 1: It's got to be positionally, meaning it's about guys on

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Speaker 1: the backside. When people do get beat off the dribble,

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Speaker 1: those guys have to be quick and precise in their

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Speaker 1: rotations and positionally put themselves between the ball handler and

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Speaker 1: the rim where they can either take a charge or

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Speaker 1: at least force that guy to veer off into a

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Speaker 1: different direction. Right, So it's going to be a really

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Speaker 1: difficult job. And then on the defensive glass, everyone's got

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Speaker 1: to fly around, everyone's got to box out, everyone's got

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Speaker 1: to crack down from the wings. And then the last

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Speaker 1: piece of it is when you have opportunities to use

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Speaker 1: that speed against interior size, you have to take advance

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Speaker 1: of it. That's spreading teams out and driving kicking them

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Speaker 1: to death. And then when you see opportunities to get

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Speaker 1: out and transition and beat slow foot and bigs up

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Speaker 1: the floor, again, like we always talk about styles make fights,

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Speaker 1: but it's usually which style wins the fight. If there's

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Speaker 1: a big team playing against a small team, if the

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Speaker 1: big team is better at doing big guys stuff then

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Speaker 1: the small team is at doing small guys stuff, then

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Speaker 1: the big team will win and everyone will be like, man,

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Speaker 1: they're just too small to guard us. But if the

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Speaker 1: small team does more small guy stuff and does it

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Speaker 1: more impactfully than the big team does, then you'll come

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Speaker 1: out of that game and you'll be like, man, they're

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Speaker 1: just too slow for us. Those are the pushes and

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Speaker 1: pulls that you have to win. That said, like, this

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Speaker 1: was a team last year that was top ten in

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Speaker 1: defense and top ten and rebounding. I'm not sure if

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Speaker 1: they can get there without a real starting center in

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Speaker 1: the fold. So it feels like this inevitably ends with

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Speaker 1: Brandon Ingram being traded for front court depth. But it's

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Speaker 1: just really hard to find willing trade partners there. So

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Speaker 1: this is like a really funky team that's around a

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Speaker 1: built around a very funky traditional or non traditional i

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Speaker 1: should say, foundational star in Zion. So it's really hard

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Speaker 1: to predict what the Pelicans are going to look like

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Speaker 1: this year. Right now, I'm going to say a playing team,

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Speaker 1: but this team has a very wide range of outcomes

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Speaker 1: for the season, and I think the Pelicans are on

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Speaker 1: the short list of teams that I think we're going

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Speaker 1: to learn the most about in the first month or

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Speaker 1: so of the season. All right, next number thirteen, the

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Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors little bit of roster turnover. They lost

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Speaker 1: Chris Paul Dariosarch and Klay Thompson. They added Kyle Anderson,

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Speaker 1: Buddy Healed, and Anthony Melton. Offseason for the Warriors actually

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Speaker 1: reminds me a lot of the twenty twenty two offseason

427
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:08,280
Speaker 1: in that you're finding discounted role players, but not necessarily

428
00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:10,359
Speaker 1: that are more talented than what you have, but just

429
00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:17,360
Speaker 1: fit Warriors basketball better, Right, Like that twenty twenty one

430
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:21,640
Speaker 1: team that was like Kelly Ubray and Kent Bazemore and

431
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:24,359
Speaker 1: Brad Wannamaker. It's like, it's not like those guys are

432
00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:31,040
Speaker 1: demonstrably better than Otto Porter, right or Na Manna Bielitsa.

433
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:35,000
Speaker 1: It's more just that those guys fit better into what

434
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:38,320
Speaker 1: Golden State was trying to do, right. That's what I

435
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:41,760
Speaker 1: like about these three guys. Kyle Anderson very good defensive forward.

436
00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:43,679
Speaker 1: You can play both on and off the ball. Of

437
00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:46,800
Speaker 1: all of the guys that Minnesota tried on Luka Doncic

438
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,200
Speaker 1: in the Conference finals, I thought Kyle was by far

439
00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:53,600
Speaker 1: their best option. He's particularly good at bigger forwards that

440
00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:55,800
Speaker 1: like to use size and strength to get to spots,

441
00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:57,920
Speaker 1: but he's also a good off ball player. He's got

442
00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:01,040
Speaker 1: great length, He's a very smart defender, and then on

443
00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:04,000
Speaker 1: the offensive end. I think he'll thrive as a playmaker

444
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:07,680
Speaker 1: and Golden State system, he had four point two assists

445
00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:10,280
Speaker 1: to just one point two turnovers last year. He was

446
00:25:10,359 --> 00:25:13,800
Speaker 1: one of only fourteen players in the entire NBA to

447
00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:16,520
Speaker 1: play at least twenty minutes per game but to log

448
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:18,960
Speaker 1: and assist a turnover ratio of at least three point

449
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:22,960
Speaker 1: five to one. He's an efficient playmaker, and as we know,

450
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,800
Speaker 1: in Golden State system, they usually have two dribble handoff

451
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:28,840
Speaker 1: folcrums that are non shooters. When they're flowing from side

452
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:33,080
Speaker 1: to side with action right Dreymonald dribble over into a

453
00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:37,200
Speaker 1: dribble handoff with Padjemskik or Steph coming off one side,

454
00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:38,880
Speaker 1: and then that guy comes off and throws a swing

455
00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:42,320
Speaker 1: pass to the second guy usually Loony or Trace Jackson

456
00:25:42,359 --> 00:25:44,240
Speaker 1: Davis or something like that, and it's like that guy

457
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,679
Speaker 1: turns and he runs the next dribble handoff, and usually

458
00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:51,480
Speaker 1: one of those guys ends up drawing their screen defender

459
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,639
Speaker 1: out onto the ball handler of Steph or Pods or

460
00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:57,000
Speaker 1: Clay whoever it was last year, and then there's a

461
00:25:57,040 --> 00:25:59,760
Speaker 1: slip opportunity there, and then that guy needs to make plays.

462
00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:04,040
Speaker 1: Or if Kyle Anderson in this case, is dribbling at

463
00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:08,879
Speaker 1: that second side action and the defender's top locking, meaning

464
00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:11,600
Speaker 1: that defender is not allowing the use of the screen,

465
00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:15,000
Speaker 1: he's forcing a backcut. You need a guy that can

466
00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:18,880
Speaker 1: consistently make those backcut passes. I mean, Kyle Anderson's gonna

467
00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:22,080
Speaker 1: do that really, really well. He scored well on the

468
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:24,160
Speaker 1: role last year. He got one point twenty seven points

469
00:26:24,200 --> 00:26:27,840
Speaker 1: per possession on rollman possessions. That's very good. And he's

470
00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:30,960
Speaker 1: also just a good ball handler in general. I'm actually

471
00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:33,320
Speaker 1: gonna be really curious to see if the Warriors run

472
00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:36,920
Speaker 1: more inverted ball screens with Steph as the screener. They

473
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:38,560
Speaker 1: did a little bit of this over the last few

474
00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:42,600
Speaker 1: years with Andrew Wiggins, but Anderson is a better decision

475
00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:45,240
Speaker 1: maker and a better ball handler in that spot. And

476
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:47,000
Speaker 1: so I'm actually really curious to see if we get

477
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,680
Speaker 1: a lot of that where it's like Kyle Anderson dribbling

478
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:52,880
Speaker 1: the ball while Steph just screens for him. Because Steph's

479
00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:57,320
Speaker 1: man is not going to help on a Kyle Anderson

480
00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:01,880
Speaker 1: drive and so so if he does, Steph's gonna get

481
00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:04,919
Speaker 1: wide open on the slip, and if he doesn't, Kyle's

482
00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:06,800
Speaker 1: going to turn the corner and get right downhill to

483
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:09,000
Speaker 1: the rim. As soon as Kyle gets right downhill to

484
00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:11,439
Speaker 1: the rim, because the guy set in the screens not

485
00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:15,040
Speaker 1: helping Kyle's defender, He's gonna get downhill and be able

486
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:17,159
Speaker 1: to wreck havoc. As a playmaker at that point, I

487
00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:20,520
Speaker 1: think it's going to be a really useful player on

488
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 1: a discounted deal. Buddy healed Klay Thompson last year gave

489
00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,600
Speaker 1: you eighteen points, three rebounds, and two assists on fifty

490
00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:32,240
Speaker 1: eight percent true shooting, and he had his worst defensive

491
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:34,400
Speaker 1: season in a long time, and he wasn't very impactful

492
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:38,159
Speaker 1: in the glass. Buddy healed twelve points, three rebounds, three

493
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,359
Speaker 1: assists on fifty eight percent true shooting, but he played

494
00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:43,000
Speaker 1: fewer minutes. If you extrapolate both players out to per

495
00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:45,800
Speaker 1: thirty six, Clay was about twenty two points per thirty

496
00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:48,720
Speaker 1: six minutes, Buddy was at about seventeen, so not quite

497
00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:52,199
Speaker 1: the amount of scoring production. Here's a couple more key

498
00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:55,320
Speaker 1: numbers for you guys, Klay Thompson one point one zero

499
00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:59,200
Speaker 1: points per possession in off screen situations, one point zero

500
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,639
Speaker 1: nine points per possession in spot up situations, one point

501
00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:06,720
Speaker 1: one one points per jump shot. Buddy healed zero point

502
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,280
Speaker 1: eighty seven points per possession off screen, so not as efficient,

503
00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:12,600
Speaker 1: but he was much much lower volume. He was doing

504
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:15,160
Speaker 1: a lot of like ghost screens for Tyrese Haliburton, which

505
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:20,320
Speaker 1: register actually has Rollman possessions on Synergy. But that was

506
00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:23,320
Speaker 1: like one of Indiana's most impactful actions last year, and

507
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:26,480
Speaker 1: it still functions essentially as like a movement shot in

508
00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:30,639
Speaker 1: his screening action. And then one point zero one points

509
00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:33,639
Speaker 1: per possession and spot up situations. That's pretty mediocre, but

510
00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:35,240
Speaker 1: he did shoot the ball well one point one to

511
00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,040
Speaker 1: one points per jump shot. So here's the thing. Buddy.

512
00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:43,280
Speaker 1: Buddy's smaller, and he's overall a less impactful movement shooter

513
00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:46,800
Speaker 1: than Clay is, but Buddy Yield is three years younger

514
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:51,160
Speaker 1: and costs about half as much in guaranteed money. Also,

515
00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:54,200
Speaker 1: Klay Thompson is very clearly on the downslope and had

516
00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:56,880
Speaker 1: his first big drop off last year. It was his

517
00:28:56,920 --> 00:28:59,120
Speaker 1: first time failing to hit twenty points per game since

518
00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:02,800
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, it was his worst defensive rebounding season since

519
00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:06,400
Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, and overall I thought he struggled defensively last year.

520
00:29:06,800 --> 00:29:10,480
Speaker 1: So essentially, you got a player who can roughly approximate

521
00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:13,760
Speaker 1: what Klay Thompson does with about half as much guaranteed

522
00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:18,840
Speaker 1: money and less risk of age related decline. The other

523
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:20,480
Speaker 1: part of it, too, is I think he's more willing

524
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:23,800
Speaker 1: to accept a smaller bench role right like Clay, Even

525
00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:27,600
Speaker 1: in his bench games, still played about twenty nine minutes

526
00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:30,760
Speaker 1: per game. There were only three times all season last

527
00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:33,920
Speaker 1: year that Klay Thompson did not play twenty minutes. The

528
00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:35,920
Speaker 1: last day of the regular season against the Jazz in

529
00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:39,200
Speaker 1: a game they didn't need him, the fifty two point

530
00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:42,360
Speaker 1: loss against Boston because everyone was sitting the bench in

531
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:45,040
Speaker 1: the second half, and then the Minnesota game where he

532
00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 1: got ejected in the first couple of minutes. That's it.

533
00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:51,400
Speaker 1: Because Clay was like under the expectation that he needed

534
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:53,840
Speaker 1: to play a lot, and there would have been issues

535
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:56,280
Speaker 1: if Steve Kirk cut his minutes way down and they

536
00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:58,680
Speaker 1: needed him to play for what it's worth. But like

537
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:02,680
Speaker 1: if there was a reason to play someone else, Kerr

538
00:30:02,720 --> 00:30:07,239
Speaker 1: wasn't going that route, not in any sort of like

539
00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:10,880
Speaker 1: substantial sample size. That is, now you'll be able to

540
00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:14,640
Speaker 1: get away with like heavily oscillating buddy, heals minutes from

541
00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:17,640
Speaker 1: high to low based on the matchup without having to

542
00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:21,240
Speaker 1: worry about fallout in team chemistry. I think that's an advantage.

543
00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:24,200
Speaker 1: So like, obviously you don't want to lose Clay, but

544
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:27,000
Speaker 1: if you're going to, you did pretty well to try

545
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 1: to replace that archetype. And there's another element to that.

546
00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:33,320
Speaker 1: D Anthony Melton another guy who plays a similar position,

547
00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:37,920
Speaker 1: a rock solid starting caliber guard when he's healthy. Going

548
00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:39,840
Speaker 1: back to his twenty twenty three season, that was the

549
00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:43,280
Speaker 1: last time he was healthy, he played seventy seven games.

550
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:45,120
Speaker 1: He actually played seventy plus games in each of the

551
00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:47,280
Speaker 1: two seasons before last year, So if you're looking for

552
00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,480
Speaker 1: optimism around Anthony Melton's health, you could hope that last

553
00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:54,240
Speaker 1: year was an outlier in recent years, but d Anthony

554
00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:56,600
Speaker 1: Meltain in twenty twenty three one point one to two

555
00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:59,120
Speaker 1: points per spot up possession. That's really good. He was

556
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:01,840
Speaker 1: an efficient on ball creator. He ran two hundred and

557
00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:03,560
Speaker 1: forty eight pick and rolls for two hundred and fifty

558
00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:05,800
Speaker 1: nine points. That's one point zero four points per possession

559
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:09,040
Speaker 1: including passes. That's really good. He's a high level jump shooter.

560
00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:11,240
Speaker 1: He shot thirty nine percent from three on five attempts

561
00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:15,280
Speaker 1: per game, one point one to three points per possession overall.

562
00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:18,720
Speaker 1: On jump shots, he shot forty one percent on catch

563
00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:21,360
Speaker 1: and shoot jump shots in that twenty twenty three year.

564
00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:23,960
Speaker 1: And he can knock down jump shots off the dribble.

565
00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,080
Speaker 1: He hit like forty or fifty I can't remember exactly

566
00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:27,400
Speaker 1: off the top of my head, but he hit a

567
00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:29,160
Speaker 1: bunch of pull up jump shots that year as well.

568
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:31,280
Speaker 1: I've talked about this a lot, but I view him

569
00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:35,600
Speaker 1: as like a like a like a slightly poor man's

570
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:39,000
Speaker 1: version of Contavious Callwell Pope, but with more off the

571
00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:41,880
Speaker 1: dribble pop. And that's like the main difference. Kcp's more

572
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:44,360
Speaker 1: of like a movement shooter. D Anthony Melton is a

573
00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:45,680
Speaker 1: guy that can actually like put the ball on the

574
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:47,600
Speaker 1: floor and make plays. I think he's a guy that's

575
00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:50,760
Speaker 1: actually gonna have some success running action coming off of

576
00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:54,520
Speaker 1: screens in Golden State system. He rebounds well for guard,

577
00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:56,560
Speaker 1: He's a good point of attack defender. I think he's

578
00:31:56,560 --> 00:31:59,320
Speaker 1: just a rock solid player provided that he's healthy. So

579
00:31:59,360 --> 00:32:01,840
Speaker 1: as long as he has healthy, that's that to me

580
00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:05,320
Speaker 1: is a big get. So you got three quality rotation players,

581
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:09,000
Speaker 1: all for about thirty million dollars annually combined, all uneasily

582
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:13,720
Speaker 1: tradable contracts. So like, given the lack of options that

583
00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:15,840
Speaker 1: were available to Golden State this summer, I actually thought

584
00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:18,480
Speaker 1: they did about as well as you possibly can while

585
00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:22,320
Speaker 1: maintaining their ability to make a move during the season. Now,

586
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,959
Speaker 1: looking at last year's team, I actually thought the Warriors

587
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:28,920
Speaker 1: performed well relative to the talent they had on the roster.

588
00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:34,400
Speaker 1: They won forty six games. They finished ninth in offensive rating.

589
00:32:34,440 --> 00:32:37,960
Speaker 1: That is a testament to Steph Curry's greatness because given

590
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:39,840
Speaker 1: the talent on that roster for them to finish top

591
00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:43,200
Speaker 1: ten in offense, even during Steph's slump to end the

592
00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:46,120
Speaker 1: year his final twenty five games in that span, they

593
00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 1: were eighth in offense, which just goes to show you

594
00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:53,280
Speaker 1: how impactful Steph is offensively, just when he's running around,

595
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:56,959
Speaker 1: even when he's not making shots. He can fuel an

596
00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:00,880
Speaker 1: above average offense with below average talent even without making shots.

597
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:05,520
Speaker 1: That's incredible. But it was abundantly clear throughout the year

598
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:08,080
Speaker 1: last year that the Warriors were not as good as

599
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:11,200
Speaker 1: their record ship like. They were twenty four and five

600
00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:14,560
Speaker 1: against teams that were below five hundred. That's the same

601
00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:17,800
Speaker 1: record that Oklahoma City had against teams that were five

602
00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:20,040
Speaker 1: hundred or below or below five hundred, I should say,

603
00:33:20,360 --> 00:33:22,560
Speaker 1: so they took care of business against the bad teams,

604
00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:26,920
Speaker 1: but they were just nine and twenty one against teams

605
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:29,240
Speaker 1: that were in the top ten in point differential. According

606
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:32,440
Speaker 1: to Cleaning the Glass, they had a minus two point

607
00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:34,640
Speaker 1: seven net ratings, so they got outscored by two point

608
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:37,320
Speaker 1: seven points per one hundred possessions in those matchups that

609
00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:47,040
Speaker 1: ranked twenty second in the NBA. Charlotte, Memphis, San Antonio, Portland, Utah, Detroit, Atlanta,

610
00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:52,040
Speaker 1: and Chicago all had better net ratings against teams in

611
00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:54,400
Speaker 1: the top ten in point differential last year than Golden

612
00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:58,320
Speaker 1: State did. So that screams to me, this team doesn't

613
00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:04,880
Speaker 1: have enough talent, but has excellent leadership because anytime a

614
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:08,919
Speaker 1: win was realistically achievable, those guys got the job done

615
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:14,520
Speaker 1: through excellent coaching and leadership from Steph Kurr. But when

616
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:18,520
Speaker 1: they ran into teams with real firepower, they got exposed

617
00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:22,960
Speaker 1: for being a roster with severe limitations. So that to

618
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:26,520
Speaker 1: me is like a special shout out to Steve Kerr

619
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:30,120
Speaker 1: and Steph Curry last year because given the circumstances, given

620
00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:32,319
Speaker 1: the Draymond suspension, given the amount of talent they had

621
00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:35,479
Speaker 1: around them, that looks like a thirty five win team

622
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:39,239
Speaker 1: to me, and they got forty six wins. So like

623
00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:41,799
Speaker 1: I thought, they squeezed that sponge for everything it was

624
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:45,480
Speaker 1: worth last year. And that's why it's so dumb every

625
00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:47,120
Speaker 1: single time we do the whole like, oh, they missed

626
00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:49,640
Speaker 1: the playoffs thing, it's like, usually there's reasons for that,

627
00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:53,960
Speaker 1: and like, look, Steph didn't play very well down the

628
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:55,799
Speaker 1: tail end of the season, but it wasn't for lack

629
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,040
Speaker 1: of trying. He was leaving it out there every single night.

630
00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:02,560
Speaker 1: This wasn't like you know, UCA and last year, the

631
00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:04,799
Speaker 1: year before the final run, where at the tail end

632
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:06,279
Speaker 1: of the year, every time he watched him on TV.

633
00:35:06,320 --> 00:35:09,600
Speaker 1: It was an I sore like they were trying like

634
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:11,279
Speaker 1: hell to get in. They just didn't have the talent

635
00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,799
Speaker 1: to get it done. So we talked about the three

636
00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:17,319
Speaker 1: new free agent signings the summer. Let's talk about what

637
00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:21,080
Speaker 1: needs to happen in the house for the Warriors to

638
00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:25,200
Speaker 1: return to the middle tier of the Western Conference, to

639
00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:27,560
Speaker 1: get back in with those groups, that group that has

640
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:31,160
Speaker 1: like Dallas and Minnesota and the Lakers and Memphis and

641
00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:33,279
Speaker 1: all those teams in the middle of the West. How

642
00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:38,080
Speaker 1: do they get back into that group. I have three things. One,

643
00:35:38,280 --> 00:35:41,040
Speaker 1: Brandon Pajemski needs to take the next leap as a

644
00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:45,200
Speaker 1: shot creator. He had an awesome rookie season, finished fifth

645
00:35:45,239 --> 00:35:47,319
Speaker 1: in Rookie of the Year voting. He shot the ball well.

646
00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:50,600
Speaker 1: He was Golden State's second best on off guy in

647
00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:54,080
Speaker 1: terms of differential behind Draymond. They were six point two

648
00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:57,799
Speaker 1: points per one hundred possessions better with Pademski on the

649
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,759
Speaker 1: floor versus off the floor. He was excellent fit in

650
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:03,759
Speaker 1: their five out offensive attack. He made good decisions consistently,

651
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:07,000
Speaker 1: he kept the ball moving, and he's already a solid

652
00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:12,280
Speaker 1: defensive player at the guard position. But Golden State needs

653
00:36:12,360 --> 00:36:15,880
Speaker 1: more offensive production out of that off guard spot in

654
00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:21,040
Speaker 1: supportive steph. POD's got over fifteen points in a game

655
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:24,520
Speaker 1: just nine times last season, and it really comes down

656
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:26,200
Speaker 1: to just being more aggressive. And I get it. For

657
00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:29,040
Speaker 1: the record, I get it in his circumstance why he

658
00:36:29,080 --> 00:36:32,120
Speaker 1: didn't come in as a rookie into the Golden State

659
00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:35,680
Speaker 1: Damn Warriors and just start jacking up shots, I get it.

660
00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:38,520
Speaker 1: I'm not blaming him for last year. I'm talking about

661
00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:41,200
Speaker 1: what he needs to do moving forward. He shot over

662
00:36:41,239 --> 00:36:43,200
Speaker 1: forty percent on one hundred and two pull up jump

663
00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:45,480
Speaker 1: shots last year, and a bunch of them were threes,

664
00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:48,040
Speaker 1: so he was at one point one to two points

665
00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:49,839
Speaker 1: per pull up jump shot. That's insane. As a matter

666
00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:51,279
Speaker 1: of fact, out of the one hundred and thirty five

667
00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:53,440
Speaker 1: players to attempt at least a hundred pull up jump shots,

668
00:36:53,719 --> 00:36:56,479
Speaker 1: Pods ranked eighth eight out of one hundred and thirty

669
00:36:56,480 --> 00:37:00,680
Speaker 1: five guys inefficiency. I actually view that is a bad

670
00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:02,520
Speaker 1: stat and the main reason why is it means he's

671
00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:06,120
Speaker 1: being too picky. He needs to take more of them.

672
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:08,000
Speaker 1: He needs to take more pull up jump shots and

673
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:10,319
Speaker 1: he needs to take more floaters. Those are the two

674
00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:12,320
Speaker 1: shots that I think when he's getting downhill on screens

675
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:14,120
Speaker 1: and he sees opportunities to get to that floater, he

676
00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:17,040
Speaker 1: needs to take it more and more and just every

677
00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:18,480
Speaker 1: time he gets a little bit of separation and he

678
00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:23,000
Speaker 1: needs to let that thing fly off the dribble. Brandon

679
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:26,000
Speaker 1: pe Zemski averaged twenty points per game at Santa Clara.

680
00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:29,360
Speaker 1: He's got real scoring chops, and I think that this

681
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:33,399
Speaker 1: team actually needs him to unleash them. When I talk

682
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:36,879
Speaker 1: to Warriors guys that cover the league, there's a lot

683
00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:40,959
Speaker 1: of buzz. There's some disagreement about Pazemski. There's some guys

684
00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:42,400
Speaker 1: that aren't very high on him, but the people that

685
00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:44,120
Speaker 1: I trust are actually very high on the The people

686
00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:46,480
Speaker 1: that watch him every day think he has legitimate all

687
00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:49,400
Speaker 1: star upside, and I just want to see how much

688
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:53,240
Speaker 1: closer you can get to that in this season two.

689
00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:57,239
Speaker 1: Jonathan Kamina needs to learn how to channel his abilities

690
00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:03,040
Speaker 1: more consistently in a winning text. Kamika showed real scoring

691
00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:06,120
Speaker 1: upside last year. He had twenty three twenty point games,

692
00:38:06,719 --> 00:38:09,600
Speaker 1: did a lot of damage and transition, and in those

693
00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:12,120
Speaker 1: baseline cuts out of that classic Golden State tic tac

694
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:15,560
Speaker 1: toe or Steph draws two short roll man baseline, defender

695
00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:18,239
Speaker 1: steps over, Kaminka cuts out of the baseline, he gets dunk.

696
00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:20,320
Speaker 1: A lot of stuff like that. But he also showed

697
00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:23,120
Speaker 1: real upside as a post scorer. He was consistently getting

698
00:38:23,160 --> 00:38:25,680
Speaker 1: around his defender or just going through his defender. He's

699
00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:27,719
Speaker 1: getting to the foul line a bunch. Really. The main

700
00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:30,759
Speaker 1: thing that nuked his efficiency in the post was turnovers.

701
00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:32,520
Speaker 1: He turned the ball over on thirteen percent of his

702
00:38:32,560 --> 00:38:35,120
Speaker 1: post ups, which was to be expected start the year.

703
00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:37,400
Speaker 1: He's getting a lot of single coverage. He was cooking everybody.

704
00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:39,720
Speaker 1: Second part of the year. They started bringing that second

705
00:38:39,719 --> 00:38:42,120
Speaker 1: defender to his left hand side, and he just wasn't

706
00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:45,480
Speaker 1: reading that defender really well. That comes obviously with repetition.

707
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:50,160
Speaker 1: But his impact didn't match up with his production Compared

708
00:38:50,160 --> 00:38:53,399
Speaker 1: to his actual counting stats. He wasn't as good. Wasn't

709
00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:57,200
Speaker 1: as good in the plus minus categories. Zero point ninety

710
00:38:57,280 --> 00:38:59,360
Speaker 1: nine points per spot up possession because he kind of

711
00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:01,880
Speaker 1: struggled to space the floor when he was off ball.

712
00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:04,960
Speaker 1: Zero point ninety seven points per catch and shoot jump shots,

713
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:06,920
Speaker 1: So those numbers aren't good enough. He's a bit of

714
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:09,040
Speaker 1: a ball stopper, a little bit of a clunky fit

715
00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:11,400
Speaker 1: on offense and then on defense. A lot of really

716
00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:13,200
Speaker 1: good moments, a lot of really bad moments, typical for

717
00:39:13,239 --> 00:39:14,960
Speaker 1: young players. Like I talk about this all the time

718
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:20,319
Speaker 1: with young players when it comes to replicating successes and

719
00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:24,960
Speaker 1: diminishing mistakes, meaning like, oh, I fucked up, let's try

720
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:28,040
Speaker 1: to not do that again, or oh this is working,

721
00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:31,680
Speaker 1: let's keep doing it. Like a lot of times, young

722
00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:36,160
Speaker 1: players will do something easy for a basket because of

723
00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:39,319
Speaker 1: a simple basketball read, and instead of going back to it,

724
00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:43,960
Speaker 1: they'll do something random on the next possession. Like veteran players,

725
00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:48,960
Speaker 1: they'll spam something until it stops working. They know, if

726
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:51,120
Speaker 1: I run this lane, if I set the screen and

727
00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:52,520
Speaker 1: I slip out of it like this, if I do

728
00:39:52,880 --> 00:39:54,680
Speaker 1: if I move the ball quickly, it'll get its way

729
00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:57,120
Speaker 1: back to me. Like all these like little details about

730
00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:03,320
Speaker 1: how to replicate successes in minimize failures, they take time.

731
00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:07,840
Speaker 1: That is a classic young basketball player issue. So the

732
00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:12,560
Speaker 1: question is how fast will Jonathan Caminga make those progressions

733
00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:15,000
Speaker 1: into being more of a winning basketball player. I'm not

734
00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:18,560
Speaker 1: worried about his production. I think he averaged something like

735
00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:20,960
Speaker 1: sixteen points a game last year. If you average sixteen

736
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:23,839
Speaker 1: points a game this year that'd be great within the

737
00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:27,560
Speaker 1: context of doing all of those little things more consistently

738
00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:32,920
Speaker 1: and minimizing mistakes. And then, lastly, can Steph return to

739
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:35,600
Speaker 1: four last twenty five games last year? Those of you

740
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:38,000
Speaker 1: guys who've been following the show, I've read these stats

741
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:40,840
Speaker 1: a million times, But last twenty five games last year

742
00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:43,520
Speaker 1: twenty two point eight points per game, forty two percent

743
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:46,040
Speaker 1: from the field, thirty eight percent from three. That's just

744
00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:50,560
Speaker 1: not superstar production anymore out of Steph Curry, and it

745
00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:52,400
Speaker 1: was part of the reason why they struggled against the

746
00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:55,000
Speaker 1: top teams. The example I always use is that twenty

747
00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:58,560
Speaker 1: twenty one team that was an equally limited funky roster,

748
00:40:59,719 --> 00:41:03,319
Speaker 1: but they went ten to fifteen against the top ten

749
00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:09,600
Speaker 1: point differential teams. That's a forty percent win percentage, whereas

750
00:41:09,719 --> 00:41:12,960
Speaker 1: last year they had a thirty percent win percentage against

751
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:16,280
Speaker 1: the top ten teams. So Steph was able to lift

752
00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:19,279
Speaker 1: them over the top for a ten percent increase in

753
00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:22,919
Speaker 1: win percentage based on his super duper star level of play.

754
00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:24,520
Speaker 1: He was playing like the best player in the world

755
00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:28,160
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one, So how close can he get

756
00:41:28,200 --> 00:41:30,200
Speaker 1: back to that form is going to be one of

757
00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:33,280
Speaker 1: the major swing factors of this season. For the record,

758
00:41:33,719 --> 00:41:36,000
Speaker 1: I believe he will. I think we're going to get

759
00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:39,160
Speaker 1: a major bounce back season from Steph. I think he's

760
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:41,319
Speaker 1: too competitive. I think he knows his team needs him,

761
00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:44,200
Speaker 1: and I think he knows what it takes. I have

762
00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:46,920
Speaker 1: a feeling that when we get through ten games or

763
00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:49,000
Speaker 1: so of the year, Steph's going to be back up

764
00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:52,160
Speaker 1: around twenty seven points per game on roughly forty five

765
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:54,480
Speaker 1: percent from the field and forty percent from three. That's

766
00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:57,680
Speaker 1: what I think we're going to get. And just like that,

767
00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:01,960
Speaker 1: just that, just that goes a long way towards returning

768
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:05,120
Speaker 1: this team to the middle of the Western Conference. So,

769
00:42:05,200 --> 00:42:07,360
Speaker 1: in summary, I think Golden State is firmly in the

770
00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:09,960
Speaker 1: play in picture again this year, but in a different

771
00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:12,960
Speaker 1: way than last year. Last year, I thought they outkicked

772
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:16,719
Speaker 1: their coverage to barely scrape into the plane. I think

773
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:18,799
Speaker 1: this is a better roster. I think they have more

774
00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:21,040
Speaker 1: veteran role players that fit the scheme better on both

775
00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:23,920
Speaker 1: ends of the floor, and I think Steph's going to

776
00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:27,120
Speaker 1: be better. But I also think they're well positioned to

777
00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:30,080
Speaker 1: make an aggressive move should the opportunity arise at some

778
00:42:30,120 --> 00:42:33,080
Speaker 1: point this year. So for right now they're playing team,

779
00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:34,759
Speaker 1: but they have some real upside if they can get

780
00:42:34,840 --> 00:42:52,640
Speaker 1: a deal done at some point this year. Our last

781
00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:55,800
Speaker 1: team for the day at number twelve, the Indiana Pacers.

782
00:42:57,040 --> 00:43:00,200
Speaker 1: Not too much roster turnover. They lost Doug McDermott, lost

783
00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:03,800
Speaker 1: Jalen Smith, brought in Cole Swider and James Wiseman, so

784
00:43:03,840 --> 00:43:06,759
Speaker 1: basically trading out of bench wing that won't play and

785
00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:09,640
Speaker 1: their third string center is basically all they did. So

786
00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:11,200
Speaker 1: they're more or less running it back with the same

787
00:43:11,280 --> 00:43:14,120
Speaker 1: roster as last year. But let's take a quick look

788
00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:16,440
Speaker 1: back at last year because it's a confusing team in

789
00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:19,359
Speaker 1: the sense that they have these really impressive metrics that

790
00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:22,080
Speaker 1: also just didn't seem to really amount to anything when

791
00:43:22,200 --> 00:43:26,240
Speaker 1: it was nut crunching time. So in the regular season,

792
00:43:26,600 --> 00:43:29,200
Speaker 1: the five man lineup of Tyrese Haliburt n Anger, Nemhard

793
00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:32,719
Speaker 1: Aeronnie Smith, Pascal Siakim and Miles Turner their starters, they

794
00:43:32,719 --> 00:43:35,360
Speaker 1: had nine hundred and twenty two possessions according to Cleaning

795
00:43:35,400 --> 00:43:39,160
Speaker 1: the Glass plus seven point five net rating. That's really good.

796
00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:41,440
Speaker 1: They were actually very good defensively. They had a one

797
00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:44,080
Speaker 1: to oh eight defensive rating. And they rebounded really well.

798
00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:46,879
Speaker 1: They grabbed seventy five percent of their opponent's missus. That's

799
00:43:46,880 --> 00:43:50,799
Speaker 1: a really good number. In the playoffs, two hundred and

800
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:54,560
Speaker 1: eighty eight minutes played between those five guys plus fourteen

801
00:43:54,719 --> 00:43:59,840
Speaker 1: point one net rating a one twenty nine offensive rating.

802
00:44:00,239 --> 00:44:04,360
Speaker 1: Those are insane numbers in the large sample. But a

803
00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:07,960
Speaker 1: couple of concerns popped up. One. Their rebounding didn't hold.

804
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:10,440
Speaker 1: They gave up an offensive rebound on thirty one point

805
00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:13,800
Speaker 1: two percent of opponents misses in the playoffs. That is bad.

806
00:44:14,719 --> 00:44:18,560
Speaker 1: And then the big one, they got absolutely annihilated in

807
00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:23,520
Speaker 1: clutch situations. They went two and five. Overall. Their offense

808
00:44:23,560 --> 00:44:25,560
Speaker 1: got strangled. They went down to a one to oh

809
00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:29,080
Speaker 1: one offensive rating when the game was within five points

810
00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:31,000
Speaker 1: with at least five minutes left or with less than

811
00:44:31,040 --> 00:44:34,200
Speaker 1: five minutes left one oh one. Think about that. Their

812
00:44:34,239 --> 00:44:37,000
Speaker 1: offensive rating, i said earlier, was one twenty nine with

813
00:44:37,040 --> 00:44:39,480
Speaker 1: those five guys in the postseason in the large sample.

814
00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:43,360
Speaker 1: So they were like really good until it got to

815
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:45,120
Speaker 1: the end of games, and then they could not score.

816
00:44:46,719 --> 00:44:48,920
Speaker 1: And then their defense got thrashed too. For as good

817
00:44:48,920 --> 00:44:51,680
Speaker 1: as their defense was in the large sample in the

818
00:44:51,680 --> 00:44:54,440
Speaker 1: regular season, they had a one to twenty one defensive

819
00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:57,399
Speaker 1: rating and clutch situations in the postseason, And that's really

820
00:44:57,440 --> 00:44:59,520
Speaker 1: the main reason why I'm lower on the Pacers than

821
00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:02,839
Speaker 1: most people. I think their regular season engine is real

822
00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:06,560
Speaker 1: Tyres Halliburton is one of the best large sample offensive

823
00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:09,759
Speaker 1: engines in the league. Does everything that I want in

824
00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:13,240
Speaker 1: an offensive engine. Consistently throws kick ahead passes in transition.

825
00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:16,520
Speaker 1: Anytime somebody's open up the floor, he's throwing those kickhead passes.

826
00:45:16,680 --> 00:45:21,080
Speaker 1: They're so valuable because defensive transition is always geared looking

827
00:45:21,160 --> 00:45:24,839
Speaker 1: up the floor, looking back towards the ball handler. When

828
00:45:24,840 --> 00:45:27,400
Speaker 1: you throw it over their head, they all turn to

829
00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:29,920
Speaker 1: go identify where the ball is, and that opens up

830
00:45:29,920 --> 00:45:33,760
Speaker 1: opportunities for trailers. It's also opportunities to attack and slash

831
00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:36,200
Speaker 1: or get wide open threes before the defense is set.

832
00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:38,239
Speaker 1: So like those kickhead passes are great. And then when

833
00:45:38,280 --> 00:45:40,920
Speaker 1: he gets into the half court, he's just like an

834
00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:45,239
Speaker 1: incredible playmaker out of ball screens. If you die on

835
00:45:45,280 --> 00:45:48,279
Speaker 1: the pick or you duck underneath, he's a deadly pull

836
00:45:48,320 --> 00:45:51,160
Speaker 1: up jump shooter. If you die on the pick, but

837
00:45:51,239 --> 00:45:55,520
Speaker 1: he gets downhill, he's a deadly floater shooter. If you

838
00:45:55,600 --> 00:46:00,000
Speaker 1: switch the screen. He routinely toasted bigs in ISOs last year,

839
00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:04,399
Speaker 1: and then he's one of the best passers in those

840
00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:08,440
Speaker 1: situations that you'll meet with the early phases, when it

841
00:46:08,480 --> 00:46:12,040
Speaker 1: was Buddy Healed and Miles Turner just picking and popping

842
00:46:13,120 --> 00:46:15,439
Speaker 1: all season long, and him just routinely hitting that guy

843
00:46:15,480 --> 00:46:17,839
Speaker 1: wide open for three or when it was a lot,

844
00:46:18,200 --> 00:46:21,560
Speaker 1: a lot more like traditional ball screens post deadline, he's

845
00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:24,359
Speaker 1: reading Obi Toppin or Pascal Siakam out of the weak

846
00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:27,960
Speaker 1: side corner. Whenever his man steps over to tag the roller.

847
00:46:28,200 --> 00:46:31,160
Speaker 1: He just routinely made the right read every single time.

848
00:46:31,400 --> 00:46:36,000
Speaker 1: It generated all these high efficiency shots for all of

849
00:46:36,040 --> 00:46:38,279
Speaker 1: these players that, like a lot of these players were

850
00:46:38,320 --> 00:46:41,720
Speaker 1: mediocre players elsewhere in the league. Boston didn't want Aaron E. Smith,

851
00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:45,920
Speaker 1: the Knicks had no use for Obi Toppin. These are

852
00:46:45,920 --> 00:46:52,680
Speaker 1: guys that turned into like legitimate large role contributors for Indiana,

853
00:46:52,800 --> 00:46:56,240
Speaker 1: like Tyres is the master at just getting defenses into

854
00:46:56,360 --> 00:47:00,880
Speaker 1: rotation so that guys can capitalize on it. Dockham was

855
00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:03,160
Speaker 1: a really nice fit that juiced him up on both

856
00:47:03,239 --> 00:47:05,960
Speaker 1: ends of the floor. A lot of upside there. But

857
00:47:06,280 --> 00:47:09,280
Speaker 1: when things slow down and get stuck in the half court,

858
00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:13,840
Speaker 1: and defenses are more attentive to detail and more physical

859
00:47:13,840 --> 00:47:17,000
Speaker 1: on the ball and fly around in rotation better they

860
00:47:17,040 --> 00:47:21,800
Speaker 1: can struggle. Tyres Halliburton shot three for fifteen in clutch

861
00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:26,480
Speaker 1: situations in the playoffs and had seven turnovers to his

862
00:47:26,520 --> 00:47:31,080
Speaker 1: eight assists. Now, one thing I'll say is I thought

863
00:47:31,080 --> 00:47:34,800
Speaker 1: that Tyres, before he heard his hamstring, had more athletic

864
00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:38,920
Speaker 1: juice to get separation from elite defenders. And that's the case, right,

865
00:47:39,400 --> 00:47:41,920
Speaker 1: Tyres was so good in the clutch before he hurt

866
00:47:41,920 --> 00:47:46,480
Speaker 1: his hammy, So like, maybe that translates better at the postseason,

867
00:47:48,600 --> 00:47:51,120
Speaker 1: but there is a certain amount of that, Like, it

868
00:47:51,239 --> 00:47:54,120
Speaker 1: really looked like they ran into a brick wall when

869
00:47:54,120 --> 00:47:57,400
Speaker 1: they got into some intense playoff situations. Now, but Jason,

870
00:47:57,400 --> 00:47:59,560
Speaker 1: they made it to the Eastern Conference finals last year.

871
00:48:00,560 --> 00:48:02,720
Speaker 1: I think a healthy Knicks team beats them in five,

872
00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:05,399
Speaker 1: and I think a healthy Bucks team beats them in six.

873
00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:08,359
Speaker 1: The Bucks were a tough matchup for the Pacers were

874
00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:10,080
Speaker 1: a tough matchup for the Bucks, and they gave them

875
00:48:10,080 --> 00:48:11,880
Speaker 1: a lot of issues. But I think if Giannis and

876
00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:14,440
Speaker 1: Dame are one hundred percent healthy in full, go for

877
00:48:14,480 --> 00:48:16,520
Speaker 1: a playoff series I think the Bucks probably get the

878
00:48:16,600 --> 00:48:19,719
Speaker 1: job done, so like, yeah, they made the conference finals,

879
00:48:20,200 --> 00:48:24,160
Speaker 1: but they were extremely fortunate in getting here. So the

880
00:48:24,239 --> 00:48:27,040
Speaker 1: question is, how can the Pacers enter into that next

881
00:48:27,080 --> 00:48:29,239
Speaker 1: tier of teams? How can they get into that tier

882
00:48:29,239 --> 00:48:32,080
Speaker 1: because like starting on Monday, I'm covering teams that legitimately

883
00:48:32,080 --> 00:48:34,600
Speaker 1: have a championship ceiling if things go right. I don't

884
00:48:34,600 --> 00:48:37,520
Speaker 1: think this Pacers team does. So how do they get there?

885
00:48:38,120 --> 00:48:39,680
Speaker 1: I think they need an upgrade at the two or

886
00:48:39,719 --> 00:48:43,120
Speaker 1: the three. Aaron Ne Smith and Adrian m Hardn are

887
00:48:43,120 --> 00:48:46,719
Speaker 1: two really solid basketball players, and I think they are

888
00:48:46,920 --> 00:48:51,279
Speaker 1: definitely championship level rotation players, but ideally they should be

889
00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:55,479
Speaker 1: coming off the bench. For you, you need more high level

890
00:48:55,560 --> 00:48:58,880
Speaker 1: closeout attacking out of those spots, and you need better

891
00:48:59,000 --> 00:49:01,719
Speaker 1: contested rebound. This was a team that did not rebound

892
00:49:01,760 --> 00:49:05,680
Speaker 1: well in the postseason. If you can basically imagine aaron

893
00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:08,279
Speaker 1: Ne Smith but like a six ' eight version of

894
00:49:08,360 --> 00:49:10,360
Speaker 1: him with a little bit more off the dribble pop,

895
00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:13,480
Speaker 1: I think just that if you did a substantial upgrade

896
00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:16,560
Speaker 1: to one of those two spots, I think that goes

897
00:49:16,600 --> 00:49:20,840
Speaker 1: a long way, like kind of like with the Knicks

898
00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:24,600
Speaker 1: did bringing in Michale bridges as an upgrade at the

899
00:49:24,640 --> 00:49:29,160
Speaker 1: three dramatically increases their ceiling. A player of that type

900
00:49:29,160 --> 00:49:32,480
Speaker 1: of caliber at the two or the three, I think

901
00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:36,000
Speaker 1: moves the Pacers into those discussions. And they have the

902
00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:37,600
Speaker 1: means to make that type of deal. They have a

903
00:49:37,640 --> 00:49:39,680
Speaker 1: young player that doesn't seem to fit their long term

904
00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:42,680
Speaker 1: vision and Ben Matherin. They have draft picks to spend,

905
00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:44,920
Speaker 1: they have lots of mid level salaries that can be

906
00:49:44,960 --> 00:49:49,319
Speaker 1: combined to get to a higher level player. And then

907
00:49:49,360 --> 00:49:51,200
Speaker 1: the last piece of it is just Tyree solving that

908
00:49:51,200 --> 00:49:53,520
Speaker 1: playoff puzzle. He was a little bit weird in this

909
00:49:53,560 --> 00:49:55,560
Speaker 1: playoff run. A lot of high highs, but a lot

910
00:49:55,600 --> 00:49:57,959
Speaker 1: of low lows. He had seven games where he didn't

911
00:49:57,960 --> 00:50:00,840
Speaker 1: even take fifteen shots. He had four games where he

912
00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:04,600
Speaker 1: didn't even take ten shots. There was like a little

913
00:50:04,600 --> 00:50:06,799
Speaker 1: bit of like a he either hazard or he does

914
00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:09,359
Speaker 1: in on this particular night kind of thing. And that's

915
00:50:09,400 --> 00:50:11,439
Speaker 1: just part of the puzzle of the playoffs. You get

916
00:50:11,440 --> 00:50:14,000
Speaker 1: attacked on the defensive end a lot, and on offense

917
00:50:14,040 --> 00:50:17,120
Speaker 1: everything gets way harder and you have to maintain that

918
00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:22,560
Speaker 1: consistency throughout that four round setup. Now, to be clear,

919
00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:25,160
Speaker 1: the Pacers to me feel like the next great Eastern

920
00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:30,040
Speaker 1: Conference Titan. Remember how like Milwaukee, Miami, and Boston kind

921
00:50:30,040 --> 00:50:33,560
Speaker 1: of ran the East over the previous half decade. I

922
00:50:33,560 --> 00:50:35,120
Speaker 1: feel like the Pacers are going to be in that

923
00:50:35,200 --> 00:50:38,160
Speaker 1: type of group for the future. But I feel like

924
00:50:38,200 --> 00:50:41,759
Speaker 1: they're one more roster shakeup, in a little bit more

925
00:50:41,840 --> 00:50:45,880
Speaker 1: player development away from actually making that a reality. So

926
00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:47,840
Speaker 1: for this season, I just have them as the best

927
00:50:47,880 --> 00:50:51,239
Speaker 1: team that doesn't have a real chance to win the

928
00:50:51,280 --> 00:50:53,920
Speaker 1: title this year at number twelve. All right, guys, that

929
00:50:54,000 --> 00:50:55,720
Speaker 1: is all I have for today. As always, I sincerely

930
00:50:55,719 --> 00:50:57,680
Speaker 1: ap pursuit you guys for suporting me and supporting the show.

931
00:50:58,040 --> 00:51:01,360
Speaker 1: We'll be back on Monday, getting in to number eleven

932
00:51:01,760 --> 00:51:05,360
Speaker 1: in our next tier of teams that can win the championship.

933
00:51:05,400 --> 00:51:07,000
Speaker 1: If things go right, I will see you guys then

934
00:51:09,200 --> 00:51:12,360
Speaker 1: the volume. What's up guys? As always, I appreciate you

935
00:51:12,440 --> 00:51:15,400
Speaker 1: for listening to and supporting OOPS tonight. It would actually

936
00:51:15,400 --> 00:51:17,319
Speaker 1: be really helpful for us if you guys would take

937
00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:20,440
Speaker 1: a second and leave a rating and a review. As always,

938
00:51:20,440 --> 00:51:22,160
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys supporting us, but if you could

939
00:51:22,160 --> 00:51:24,640
Speaker 1: take a minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it.