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Speaker 1: by Fan Duel here at the volume. Happy Monday, everybody.
Speaker 1: I hope all of you guys had an incredible weekend
Speaker 1: jam Packs show today. So much going on in the NBA.
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis has hurt again, gonna be out a month.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna talk about all this stuff as it
Speaker 1: pertains to the Lakers and the grand scheme of things.
Speaker 1: The Golden State Warriors found a way to win on
Speaker 1: the road in Toronto without Steph and Curry. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about the Warriors a little bit. The Rafters
Speaker 1: have lost eight out of ten. The bottom really fallen
Speaker 1: out from that team. We're talking a little bit about
Speaker 1: them in a big trade that I want them to consider.
Speaker 1: The Brooklyn Nets came from behind to beat the Detroit
Speaker 1: Pistons on the road last night. Kevin Durant Kyrie Irving
Speaker 1: combined for one points and they are a half game
Speaker 1: back of the best record in the league over the
Speaker 1: course of the last month and a half or so.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna talk to Brooklyn Nets. And then, last,
Speaker 1: not least, the Boston Celtics lose two games in a
Speaker 1: row at home to the Orlando Magic. They've now lost
Speaker 1: four out of five in the Magic have won six
Speaker 1: games in a row. So we're gonna talk about both
Speaker 1: of those teams in their recent successes and failures. You
Speaker 1: guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to
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Speaker 1: your podcasts under Hoops tonight and then quickly before we
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Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball. So we don't have any real
Speaker 1: details about this Anthony Davis injury. Apparently something showed up
Speaker 1: in the m r I that they didn't like, because
Speaker 1: we've received reports that the Lakers are bracing for at
Speaker 1: least a month without a D and a D is
Speaker 1: currently trying to get a second opinion. So for starters,
Speaker 1: I feel really bad for him because it's got to
Speaker 1: be really discouraging to kind of feel like yourself again
Speaker 1: and then to immediately suffer this type of setback. You know,
Speaker 1: the first couple of years, conditioning played a big role.
Speaker 1: His work ethic I thought played a big role, but
Speaker 1: he learned his lesson. He came into the season locked in,
Speaker 1: in shape, ready to go, and looked like maybe the
Speaker 1: best player in the world, at least the best two
Speaker 1: way player in the world to start this season. And
Speaker 1: then you get hurt and and that's really really unfortunate.
Speaker 1: But it's kind of the reality of the Anthony Davis experience,
Speaker 1: like there's been some bad luck in there, you know,
Speaker 1: like there was a play last year. We're gonna in
Speaker 1: on someone's foot. There was a play last year where
Speaker 1: someone landed into his knee. Those are contact injuries. There's
Speaker 1: nothing you could do. Even the Yokis play, it's not
Speaker 1: like he did anything weird. He kicked Yokich's leg. So
Speaker 1: in reality, there's a lot of bad luck there, but
Speaker 1: there's also some clear signs of fragility that Achilles tend
Speaker 1: to nosis that he suffered. That's a non contact injury
Speaker 1: that was associated with conditioning the groin strain in the playoffs,
Speaker 1: like that was just he came back, played a few
Speaker 1: playoff games and he broke down in a non contact situation.
Speaker 1: And even the Yoki kick play, the play that hurt
Speaker 1: his foot. For the vast majority of players in the NBA,
Speaker 1: that might be a small ankle tweak and for Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis it's a serious foot injury. So it's not an
Speaker 1: insult to a d because some of this is just
Speaker 1: the reality of super tall basketball players. We've seen this
Speaker 1: time and time again in NBA history. They tend to
Speaker 1: have foot and knee issues. It's kind of part of
Speaker 1: the deal. But it's a huge bummer for the Lakers
Speaker 1: because they were playing some really good basketball. They won
Speaker 1: again last night against the Washington Wizards without a d
Speaker 1: that's two straight wins based sickly without a D because
Speaker 1: in the Nuggets game, he was a non factor in
Speaker 1: the first half as we know now because of his
Speaker 1: foot injury, and they won that game against a good
Speaker 1: team without Anthony Davis and uh Lebron James was amazing
Speaker 1: again thirty three, seven and nine last night. Lebron is
Speaker 1: playing like a two way superstar. Over the course of
Speaker 1: this last several weeks since returning from the groin injury,
Speaker 1: He's averaging twenty nine points, eight rebounds, and six assists
Speaker 1: on six true shooting. He The Lakers are plus seventy
Speaker 1: three and fourty foty one minutes with Lebron on the floor,
Speaker 1: minus thirty nine in a hundred and ninety three minutes
Speaker 1: without him. So this is like m v P level production,
Speaker 1: both in statistical accumulation and in value that he brings
Speaker 1: to the basketball team on both ends of the floor.
Speaker 1: Now for a pretty significant span, like we're talking close
Speaker 1: to a month of basketball at this point, since November.
Speaker 1: So now five weeks, the Lakers are eleven and six,
Speaker 1: which is the fifth best record in the league. And
Speaker 1: that's despite choking away two massive leads to Indiana in
Speaker 1: Boston that they had no business losing. They're up seventeen
Speaker 1: with nine minutes left against Indiana, up thirteen with four
Speaker 1: minutes left against Boston. The Lakers are now just two
Speaker 1: and a half games back of eight in the West,
Speaker 1: three and a half games back of fifth four and
Speaker 1: a half games back of Phoenix, in six games back
Speaker 1: of first place in the West. For how disastrous their
Speaker 1: start is, to only be six games back of first
Speaker 1: place in the West is pretty remarkable. The Lakers are good,
Speaker 1: maybe even great, but they need Lebron or they need
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis to be great. Without Anthony Davis, even with
Speaker 1: as well as Lebron is playing, they are an average
Speaker 1: basketball team. So the the Anthony Davis injury puts them
Speaker 1: in a very precarious position for the next month. Their schedule,
Speaker 1: if you look at it, is very similar to Golden State.
Speaker 1: There's several winnable games and there's several really tough games,
Speaker 1: you know, like they played tonight in Phoenix. That's gonna
Speaker 1: be a newly impossible game to win and win without
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. After that, they play the Kings. That's gonna
Speaker 1: be a tough game to win without Anthony Davis. But
Speaker 1: over the course of this next month, they play the
Speaker 1: Charlotte Hornets, they play the Orlando Magic, they play the
Speaker 1: Charlotte Hornets again, and they play that Hawks team that
Speaker 1: is absolutely reeling twice over that span. So this is
Speaker 1: a span that even though it's unfortunate will happened Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: It is possible for the Lakers to float over this span.
Speaker 1: But the bottom line is the Lakers have to make
Speaker 1: a decision now because without Anthony Davis, that stretch of
Speaker 1: games is precarious no matter what. There's just not enough
Speaker 1: talent on the roster. But if you make a move
Speaker 1: that gives them a chance they have they could absolutely
Speaker 1: float around five during that span. Anthony Davis could come
Speaker 1: back and then they could go on a run. So again,
Speaker 1: they have to make a decision. Robin Genie have been
Speaker 1: putting off this decision for a really long time, ever
Speaker 1: since last season's disaster, And that decision was do you
Speaker 1: invest in the labra on James and Anthony Davis core
Speaker 1: or do you move on from it? And they've put
Speaker 1: it off. They put it off. They put it off.
Speaker 1: They could have traded Russ, they did it. They could
Speaker 1: have made an aggressive trade early in the season. They
Speaker 1: did it. They have the two draft picks, they have
Speaker 1: salaries that they can move. They have players, they have
Speaker 1: Kendrick Nunn and Patrick Beverley that are less important players
Speaker 1: on the roster that they can flip for a player
Speaker 1: that's around, you know, twenty million a year. They've got
Speaker 1: the pieces necessary to make a deal to invest in
Speaker 1: this group, and they have not done so they've been
Speaker 1: putting it off. And that decision has to be made now.
Speaker 1: And the way I see it, you've got two choices.
Speaker 1: You can commit to Lebron and a D invest heavily
Speaker 1: into giving them the best possible chance to compete during
Speaker 1: the stretch Without Anthony Davis. You trade Russell Westbrook, Kendrick Nunn,
Speaker 1: Patrick Beverley and both picks, and you bring back as
Speaker 1: much as possible, and you give the keys to Lebron,
Speaker 1: and you say, carry us for a month Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: comes back, we go on and run. Or you can
Speaker 1: decide that fundamentally the Lebron James and Anthony Davis or
Speaker 1: does not work. A D is too fragile, Lebron's too old,
Speaker 1: whatever your idea is there. If that's the case, now
Speaker 1: is the time to blow it up, because during this stretch,
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis's value is as high as it's ever going
Speaker 1: to beat. He yes, he's hurt, but he just played
Speaker 1: arguably the best stretch of basketball in his career. The
Speaker 1: injury like that, injury prone label that's permanently attached to
Speaker 1: him now, and and it's for the record, it's factually correct.
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, like it or not, cannot stay available. And
Speaker 1: regardless of how you may feel, if you, as a
Speaker 1: Laker fan, feel like that's an unfair label for Anthony Davis, fine,
Speaker 1: I promise you all thirty NBA g MS view Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis as a significant injury risk. That is a permanent
Speaker 1: label attached to him. But you've got him now in
Speaker 1: an injury phase, right after he played some really damn
Speaker 1: good basketball, like best player in the world type basketball.
Speaker 1: So now is the time when his value is as
Speaker 1: high as it's ever going to be. So, if you're
Speaker 1: going to make a rebuild, if you're going to decide
Speaker 1: that this is no longer the core you're going to
Speaker 1: move forward with, now is the time that you have
Speaker 1: to make that type of move. You move Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: for as many future assets as you can, You let
Speaker 1: Lebron break the scoring record in a Laker jersey, and
Speaker 1: then you trade him away this summer, give him a
Speaker 1: chance to go play somewhere with a team that has
Speaker 1: a legitimate chance to compete. Then you start looking towards
Speaker 1: the future with all of those recruit recouped assets. But
Speaker 1: no matter what, waiting is no longer an option the
Speaker 1: page the being patient and waiting for something better is
Speaker 1: an unacceptable approach at this point. If you believe in
Speaker 1: the core, you've got to give them a chance to fight.
Speaker 1: If you don't, now is the time when the trade
Speaker 1: values are as high as they're going to be. So
Speaker 1: here's what I would do if I was running the Lakers.
Speaker 1: The reality is is that full rebuilds, like complete blow
Speaker 1: it up rebuilds, even when you get a bunch of
Speaker 1: high draft pick back, are not guaranteed to lead to contention.
Speaker 1: They're not guaranteed to lead to a very good roster.
Speaker 1: Look at the Warriors over the course of this last span,
Speaker 1: by virtue of trades and by virtue of a couple
Speaker 1: of seasons where injuries blew them up, they have three
Speaker 1: lottery picks James Wiseman, Jonathan Cominga, and Moses Moody. They
Speaker 1: even have a late first round pick in Jordan Pool
Speaker 1: that that hit and is a fringe All Star. Now,
Speaker 1: so you have a fringe All Star from a late
Speaker 1: first round pick and three lottery picks and all of
Speaker 1: it amounts to a bunch of guys that aren't superstars.
Speaker 1: Jonathan Coming is the only guy in that group that
Speaker 1: I think has legit superstar upside, and that is a
Speaker 1: long shot because he's super young and he's super raw.
Speaker 1: Superstars win titles, not stars. Superstars win titles. We've been
Speaker 1: over that time and time again. If you go back
Speaker 1: through NBA history, the team that gets the trophy has
Speaker 1: one of the top five guys in the league on
Speaker 1: his team sometimes too. So the reality is the rebuild approach,
Speaker 1: the let's go after draft picks approach, is not guaranteed
Speaker 1: to leap you back into contention. But you do have
Speaker 1: a superstar right now in Lebron James who's playing like
Speaker 1: a superstar. And you do have Anthony Davis, another superstar
Speaker 1: who's even better than Lebron, who's currently out but will
Speaker 1: return to the lineup at some point before the end
Speaker 1: of the season. So if your ultimate goal as a
Speaker 1: franchise is to win an NBA championship, investing in now
Speaker 1: is still your best chance. So that's what I would
Speaker 1: do now. Originally I preferred wing centric deals because I
Speaker 1: wanted the Lakers to load up on wings, keep a
Speaker 1: d at the five. Thomas Bryant's playing really well off
Speaker 1: the bench. That's all great, that would that would have
Speaker 1: been the direction I would have gone. But with Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis out, you really need another center. Thomas Bryant was
Speaker 1: awesome last night. He had sixteen and ten, hit two
Speaker 1: massive corner three's on kickouts from Dennis Shrewder, was battling
Speaker 1: on the glass for a bunch of contested rebounds. Thomas
Speaker 1: Bryant was great, but he can't be your only functional
Speaker 1: center when in Gabriel, I don't think can really play
Speaker 1: center for for a long stretch. So you ideally want
Speaker 1: to keep Thomas Bryant slotted off the bench. So I
Speaker 1: would call up Indiana and I would offer two first
Speaker 1: round picks and Russell Westbrook for Miles Turner and Buddy Heal.
Speaker 1: With the influx of both of them as shooters, that's
Speaker 1: real spacing with the two of them, and with Miles
Speaker 1: Turner as a defensive anchor. Moving Thomas Bryant back to
Speaker 1: the bench, you give yourself a significant chance to float
Speaker 1: in the schedule over the course of the next month,
Speaker 1: and then even then you can potentially buy Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: another week or two to make sure he's a hundred
Speaker 1: percent recovered from the injury not have to force things back.
Speaker 1: And then you make an ancillary trade with Kendrick Nunn
Speaker 1: and Patrick Beverley and a couple of second round picks
Speaker 1: for a wing player. Maybe that's boy and Bogdanovitch, maybe
Speaker 1: that's Kyle Kuzma. You might not be able to get
Speaker 1: those two guys because of the draft pick situation. It's
Speaker 1: complicated because Indiana probably wants two first round picks. If
Speaker 1: you can get them one first round pick in two
Speaker 1: second round picks, maybe you can use that other first
Speaker 1: round pick to get a guy like boy On or
Speaker 1: get a guy like Kyle Kuzma. But there's a chance
Speaker 1: that you have to pay both first round picks for
Speaker 1: that Indiana deal, in which case you need to probably
Speaker 1: go for some lower hanging fruit on the wing market.
Speaker 1: And if that's the case, maybe you call the Knicks
Speaker 1: and you try to Priory Camradish and Evan Fournier. I'm
Speaker 1: sure the Knicks would like to get off of Evan
Speaker 1: Fournier salary next season, um, so that gives you a
Speaker 1: better chance of getting that deal done without a first
Speaker 1: round pick. But with that, with that type of structure
Speaker 1: bringing in you know, let's just say it's the Knicks
Speaker 1: deal and the Pacers deal. You get two legitimate wing
Speaker 1: shooters in Evan Fournier and and Buddy Healed, a young
Speaker 1: wing that who knows what's gonna happen. I don't think
Speaker 1: Cam Raddis is that good. I don't think he's uh.
Speaker 1: I don't think he has a high basketball like you,
Speaker 1: which I think with drive Lebron completely insane um. But
Speaker 1: at least you have some raw potential there. And then
Speaker 1: you have Miles Turner as a legitimate center to fill
Speaker 1: in the Anthony Davis minutes. That gives you a legit
Speaker 1: chance to try to float the ship Anthony Davis comes back.
Speaker 1: And when he comes back, you have like a legit
Speaker 1: a d at the four. Look where Miles Turners at
Speaker 1: the five. You also have really strong bench units that
Speaker 1: are led with Miles Turner at the center position. And
Speaker 1: you have a considerable a considerable amount of shooting that
Speaker 1: you didn't have earlier in the season with Miles Turner,
Speaker 1: with Buddy Yield, with Evan Fournier to give Lebron and
Speaker 1: um uh Anthony Davis more space to work with in
Speaker 1: that in that um a scenario where Anthony Davis comes back,
Speaker 1: but either way they have to decide between those two
Speaker 1: options give them a fighting chance punt the season. What
Speaker 1: you can't do is do nothing where you flounder in
Speaker 1: the standings for the next month. Then Anthony Davis comes
Speaker 1: back and tanks his value because he's you know, rushing
Speaker 1: his way back from injury to try to save the Lakers,
Speaker 1: and you know who knows if he gets hurt again
Speaker 1: or he doesn't play as well as he did before
Speaker 1: the injury, all those things can only serve to lower
Speaker 1: his trade value. And in the idea of just like, oh,
Speaker 1: let's just wait till next season, well, Anthony Davis is
Speaker 1: still injury prone. Lebron will be in year twenty one
Speaker 1: at that point, I just don't understand that approach. Now,
Speaker 1: before we move on, there is door number three, and
Speaker 1: I think this is for the record up front, this
Speaker 1: is a mega long shot, and I see door number
Speaker 1: one and two is far more likely. But the other
Speaker 1: thing you could do is you could make an aggressive
Speaker 1: win now type of trade with Anthony Davis to try
Speaker 1: to win with Lebron. Like we talked about earlier, Lebron's
Speaker 1: playing like a top ten player in the league. What
Speaker 1: if you call up the Toronto Raptors, a team that
Speaker 1: has lost eight out of ten games and probably want
Speaker 1: has some desire to shake things up on their own
Speaker 1: side of things, and they clearly don't have enough high
Speaker 1: level offensive talent, which we'll get to later. But what
Speaker 1: do you offer them Anthony Davis for Gary Trent Jr.
Speaker 1: O g And and Nobi Precious Schua in two first
Speaker 1: round picks. Then you make similar you know, Russell Westbrooke,
Speaker 1: Kendrick nun Patrick Beverley deals on the side to bring
Speaker 1: in the shooting, maybe even the same deals we just
Speaker 1: talked about. But even if that doesn't work out, you
Speaker 1: make it run with Lebron. With that group, Lebron James
Speaker 1: a legit wing and O g n and and Nobi. You
Speaker 1: have Miles turn Or at center. You have Precious Chew
Speaker 1: as a backup big. You've got shooting that you brought
Speaker 1: in on the side. Gary Trent Jr. Is a real
Speaker 1: pull up shooting threat that gives you a lot of
Speaker 1: offensive skill in the back court that they haven't had
Speaker 1: this season. You make a run at things. Maybe it
Speaker 1: doesn't work. But then you still after that have o
Speaker 1: g And and and Nobi in precisus ache, a couple of
Speaker 1: kind of interesting young players and a couple of first
Speaker 1: round picks that you're coup. Then you can move Lebron
Speaker 1: in the summertime if you need to. That would be
Speaker 1: another opportunity if you wanted to give Lebron a fighting chance.
Speaker 1: But I see that is extremely unlikely. I think door
Speaker 1: number one and door number two are there far more
Speaker 1: likely scenarios. And again, no matter what, a decision has
Speaker 1: to be made, and soon all right, moving on to
Speaker 1: the Warriors in the Raptors. So if you guys remember
Speaker 1: in our video last week I talked about how we
Speaker 1: haven't really seen much of the Warriors starters play without Steph.
Speaker 1: I think we attract one possession where it was the
Speaker 1: existing starting lineup, but with Jordan Poole in for Um
Speaker 1: in for Stephen Curry if I remember correctly. But we
Speaker 1: had seen plenty of Jordan Pool and Draymond together because
Speaker 1: when the bench was struggling earlier, Stephen Steve Kerr started
Speaker 1: uh staggering the lineups a little bit better, and he
Speaker 1: started playing Draymond Green alongside Jordan Pool a lot, just
Speaker 1: to raise the defensive floor a bit and to rain
Speaker 1: in some of Jordan Pool's decision making. Um. I think
Speaker 1: before last night's game, they were hovering right around plus
Speaker 1: six and a half net rating in their minutes together,
Speaker 1: Jordan Pool and Draymond So they've been playing some good
Speaker 1: basketball with those two guys together. And the reality is
Speaker 1: is the best chance that the Warriors have to compete
Speaker 1: over the course of the next month is for those
Speaker 1: two guys, Jordan Pool and Draymond Green to play like
Speaker 1: all Stars, which is not too much to ask because
Speaker 1: they are all star level players. Um. You know, I
Speaker 1: thought there was a really interesting play at the beginning
Speaker 1: of this game. It's kind of like a shooting contest
Speaker 1: between Draymond Green and Pascal Siaka. Was like three three
Speaker 1: three three both ways. And Draymond Green makes three threes
Speaker 1: in a row to start the game. And then he
Speaker 1: gets hit at the top of the key with another
Speaker 1: wide open catch and shoot opportunity. But he spots Jordan
Speaker 1: Pool on his right, and you know, Draymond Green's is
Speaker 1: super smart basketball player. He's in a rhythm, he's made
Speaker 1: three in a row. He's probably got a good chance
Speaker 1: of making that shot if he puts it up, but
Speaker 1: he knows that for forty eight minutes for them to win,
Speaker 1: he needs a lot out of Jordan's Pool. And so,
Speaker 1: you know, one of what I always talked about, one
Speaker 1: of the best ways to get a score in a
Speaker 1: rhythm is to get him easy shots early. That's why
Speaker 1: you know, bad defensive teams usually give up great offensive
Speaker 1: nights two stars because they come out early, they hit
Speaker 1: a couple of easy shots, they get the rhythm. Now
Speaker 1: they have their confidence, and now even when you're throwing
Speaker 1: contests and doubles at them, they're still making shots over
Speaker 1: the top because they're confident in their in rhythm. Well,
Speaker 1: he dribbles over to Jordan Pool, does a little pitch
Speaker 1: off to him. Jordan Pool gets a wide open three
Speaker 1: and knocks it down, and that was what triggered an
Speaker 1: incredible night for Jordan. Pool finished with forty three points
Speaker 1: and six assists. So I got kind of like, um,
Speaker 1: you know, understanding from Draymond to know that he needs
Speaker 1: Jordan Pool and to lean into that um specific responsibility
Speaker 1: has especially is one of the best playmakers on the team.
Speaker 1: I thought was really really impressive. So Jordan Pool has
Speaker 1: forty three and six. Draymond has seventeen nine and five,
Speaker 1: and then they had a really smart defensive game plan.
Speaker 1: What do we know about Toronto? They're outstanding in the
Speaker 1: open court, but they struggle in the half court. I've
Speaker 1: been talking about this all season. Toronto is now twenty
Speaker 1: seven in half court offense. They scored just zero point
Speaker 1: nine zero four points per half court possession. Only the
Speaker 1: Charlotte Hornets, the San Antonio Spurs in the Houston Rockets
Speaker 1: are worse. Now are they actually that bad? No? Injuries
Speaker 1: play significant role there. When Gary Trent Jr. And O
Speaker 1: g and Obi are out the way that they are
Speaker 1: right now, this team already does not have enough offensive
Speaker 1: skill level right like this, the Toronto Raptors are, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, a cautionary tale in roster building. You know,
Speaker 1: I always talk about how on both ends of the
Speaker 1: floor you need to fill the responsibilities with a five
Speaker 1: man unit. And yeah, there are things that are really important,
Speaker 1: like six eight wings that can defend multiple positions. That's
Speaker 1: an incredibly valuable thing, but it's not the only thing.
Speaker 1: On a basketball court. You need a certain amount of
Speaker 1: ball handling and shooting and off the dribble shot footing
Speaker 1: to allow lineups to function unless you've just got world
Speaker 1: beating to the basket guys like Lebron James and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis or a Zan Williamson or Jani s Antenna Coombo.
Speaker 1: If you don't have one of those guys, and maybe
Speaker 1: Scotty Barnes will be one of those guys in the
Speaker 1: distant future, but he's not one of those guys yet.
Speaker 1: If you don't have one of those guys, you need
Speaker 1: a lot of ball handling and shooting to score in
Speaker 1: the half court, and the Raptors don't. And then when
Speaker 1: you take Gary Trent Jr. Out Of the game, you
Speaker 1: take o Gna Nobi out of the game, they just
Speaker 1: simply have very very little offensive skill on the court,
Speaker 1: which makes it borderline untenable at that point. And you know,
Speaker 1: I was digging into some numbers on Synergy this morning.
Speaker 1: So according to Synergy, Toronto averages about twenty four points
Speaker 1: per game and what they count as transition possessions. So
Speaker 1: fast breakpoints just counts like runouts, but transition can include
Speaker 1: a lot of other things, like there's uh, basically anything
Speaker 1: that's not a set half court set. So like you know,
Speaker 1: there could be three guys back, and there could be
Speaker 1: four guys back and four guys on offense running and
Speaker 1: three guys trailing to play, and it's a quick bang bang,
Speaker 1: you know, driving kick for an easy three. That it's
Speaker 1: technically a transition play. And the Raptors thrive in those settings.
Speaker 1: They average about twenty four points per game. There, Golden
Speaker 1: State held them to just twelve, just twelve transition points,
Speaker 1: just five fast breakpoints. They forced the Raptors to play
Speaker 1: half court basketball. And here's the thing, even without Steph Curry,
Speaker 1: the Warriors are a better half court basketball team than
Speaker 1: the Raptors without O. G N and O B and
Speaker 1: Gary Trent Jr. So really smart game plan from Steve Kerr,
Speaker 1: commitment from the players to sprint back and talk and
Speaker 1: get matched up in transition, and then Jordan Pooling Draymond
Speaker 1: Green playing like all stars was enough to win the game.
Speaker 1: And then they got some shot making contributions. You know,
Speaker 1: I always talk about how the difference between a good
Speaker 1: offense and a bad offense is often shot making, because
Speaker 1: you know, if a bad offense is a hundred and
Speaker 1: seven points per hunter possessions and a good offense is
Speaker 1: a hundred nineteen points per one hunter possessions. That's just
Speaker 1: twelve points. That could be a handful of late shot clock,
Speaker 1: tough shots that guys hit. That could be a handful
Speaker 1: of possessions where you get a good matchup and you
Speaker 1: have a guy who can score against that Pacific specific matchup. So,
Speaker 1: for instance, there's a wild play in the in the
Speaker 1: first quarter of this game where you know, Jordan Pool
Speaker 1: is trying to get a shot off and I can't
Speaker 1: get a shot off that Daymond Green keeps hunting him
Speaker 1: with these dribble handoffs. Nothing's working. He ends up just
Speaker 1: pitching it over to Anthony Lamb on the left wing,
Speaker 1: who's not even open, and the shot clocks running out,
Speaker 1: and Anthony Lamb just rises up and knocks down an
Speaker 1: incredibly difficult contested jan Kee spot up three. That's shot making.
Speaker 1: That turned a good defensive possession for Toronto into three
Speaker 1: points for the Golden State Warriors. Early first half, early
Speaker 1: second half, same type of deal. They run a couple
Speaker 1: of Golden State interchanges. At the top of the key,
Speaker 1: Jamichael Green pops to the left wing and takes a
Speaker 1: movement contested three and knocks it down once again good
Speaker 1: defensive possession from the Raptors that Jamichael Green turned into
Speaker 1: three points with shot making Clay Thompson pitched in seventeen
Speaker 1: on some tougher shots as well. Like at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, if you lose that high end shot
Speaker 1: making from Steph, you're not gonna win games unless other
Speaker 1: guys step up make shots. And that's what the Warriors
Speaker 1: did last night. If they do those things, they defend
Speaker 1: at a high level, have good game plans, get some
Speaker 1: offensive contributions. That's a good way for them to hang
Speaker 1: around five and not lose any ground in the standings
Speaker 1: before Steph returns. Like we talked about earlier, the Raptors
Speaker 1: have now lost eight out of ten. Yes, you're waiting
Speaker 1: on og And and Nobody to come back. You're waiting
Speaker 1: on Presses a TiO to come back. Your waiting and
Speaker 1: get on Gary Trent Jr. To come back. But the
Speaker 1: reality of this roster is that it doesn't nearly have
Speaker 1: enough ball handling or shooting like we talked about earlier,
Speaker 1: So I would I think it's time for the Raptors
Speaker 1: now at thirteen and seventeen to start considering a little
Speaker 1: bit more roster balance. That means turning one of your
Speaker 1: wings that specializes in defense and rebounding and athleticism, physical
Speaker 1: confrontation things, and flip him for a highly skilled player.
Speaker 1: You know, I've talked about this trade a bunch of times,
Speaker 1: but I really like the idea of something between the
Speaker 1: Calves and the Raptors that sends Darius Garlands to the
Speaker 1: Raptors and sends O g And and Noby to the Calves.
Speaker 1: I think it's mutually beneficial for both teams. I don't
Speaker 1: think the Calves can hope to succeed with two small guards,
Speaker 1: especially when neither of them are good defensive players. I
Speaker 1: think the Raptors, you know, get Fred van Vleet is
Speaker 1: a very good defensive player, and they have enough lineup
Speaker 1: flexibility to go without him from time to time. Giving
Speaker 1: yourself a great pull up jump shooter and super skilled
Speaker 1: guard and Darius Garland could offset some of your offensive
Speaker 1: skill problems that you've had. And again, what O g
Speaker 1: Na Nobi does is extremely valuable, but the Raptors have
Speaker 1: that in uh, they have a great amount of that already,
Speaker 1: So it's it's basically like sacrificing from your surplus to
Speaker 1: fortify a weakness basically for both teams. And you know
Speaker 1: that that small forward position for the Calves has been
Speaker 1: kind of up and down um all season anyway. You know,
Speaker 1: like Isaac accro is a freaky good defensive players, very
Speaker 1: athletic and makes a lot of place for them, but
Speaker 1: he has all these offensive limitations, you know. And then
Speaker 1: Dean Wade is a great shooter and is much better
Speaker 1: offensive player, but struggles on the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: You know, Uh, they just they just don't have a
Speaker 1: really like Chetty Osmond is kind of up and down
Speaker 1: and and has some athleticism limitations. So there's like there's
Speaker 1: just that's a weak position for them there. But they're
Speaker 1: loaded up at skill at the guard position, and Carris
Speaker 1: Lavert's playing really well, So why not you why don't
Speaker 1: you go with Donovan Mitchell and Carris Lavert and give Darius,
Speaker 1: give that Darius Garland resource over to an O, G
Speaker 1: N and Noby. That really rounds out your lineups to
Speaker 1: give you a really solid player at small forward position.
Speaker 1: Not to mention the fact that you'd probably be the
Speaker 1: best defense of this decade with Jared Allen, Evan Mobley
Speaker 1: and og And and Nobi in the front court. They
Speaker 1: would be terrifying for other teams to deal with, especially
Speaker 1: with the way that Carris Lavert is playing defense this year.
Speaker 1: So Raptor's calves we might need to get the two
Speaker 1: of you guys in touch, because I feel like there's
Speaker 1: some opportunity there all right, the nets and the pistons.
Speaker 1: So this was a fun game to watch. Ja Ja
Speaker 1: Nivy had three nasty dunks, including a poster dunk on
Speaker 1: you to want nabby Um. I always talked about how
Speaker 1: he moves like young Dwayne Wade, and that dunk on
Speaker 1: you to want Nabby was the first play this season
Speaker 1: I've seen that really demonstrates to its full potential. He
Speaker 1: is my favorite rookie. I don't think he's the best rookie.
Speaker 1: I think Polo is, but I think he's the second
Speaker 1: best rookie. And I was super impressed with him in
Speaker 1: Summer League, and I've been super impressed with him throughout
Speaker 1: most of the season as a young guard kind of
Speaker 1: finding his way throughout the league. But his athleticism and
Speaker 1: his ability to beat people off the dribbles one excites
Speaker 1: me so much. Killing killing and Hayes eight assists and
Speaker 1: no turnovers. He's playing good basketball after a pretty rough
Speaker 1: start to the season. But this game was about Katie
Speaker 1: and Kyrie. They combined for eighty one points on just
Speaker 1: forty five shots, which is of course completely ludicrous. Um.
Speaker 1: The Pistons led by as many as nineteen before another
Speaker 1: methodical second half Nets come back. This is becoming a theme,
Speaker 1: the Nets coming out of the locker room in the
Speaker 1: third quarter and just strangling teams on the defensive end
Speaker 1: of the floor, which some of that is Jacque Vaughan,
Speaker 1: and that's a defensive game plan thing. You're going halftime,
Speaker 1: here's where we're getting beat. Okay, here are adjustments. Let's
Speaker 1: come out and let's execute. And then it's also on
Speaker 1: the players for coming out with good energy. A lot
Speaker 1: of teams struggle with coming out with energy in the
Speaker 1: third quarter. Um, Katie, who's struggled a little bit shooting
Speaker 1: the three for the most part of the season, got
Speaker 1: his pull up three going late in the third quarter
Speaker 1: of this game. He had back to back to back
Speaker 1: threes that flipped the lead to end the third and
Speaker 1: then Kyrie came in and took over the fourth quarter again. Um,
Speaker 1: we got a little sloppy late the boy um Boy
Speaker 1: Bgdonovitch made a transition three off of a Katie turnover
Speaker 1: to cut it down to one point, but then Katie
Speaker 1: went Kyrie went right back to that step back three
Speaker 1: that he beat Toronto with and got foul and ice
Speaker 1: the game at the free throw line. Make that six
Speaker 1: wins in a row for the Brooklyn Nets and ten
Speaker 1: out of eleven And since November four they are seventeen
Speaker 1: and six, which is just a half game back of
Speaker 1: Boston for the best team in the league over that span.
Speaker 1: So Brooklyn is really really looking like an interesting basketball
Speaker 1: team right now. Still waiting on that signature win, UM,
Speaker 1: but they're gonna have their opportunities here in the coming month. UM. Alright,
Speaker 1: moving on to Orlando Boston. So that's six wins in
Speaker 1: a row for Orlando. They sweep the Celtics on the road.
Speaker 1: Palo was awesome in this game. He was red hot
Speaker 1: from three to start. UM. It really carried them offensively
Speaker 1: in the first half. He's been lights out from three
Speaker 1: during this entire wind streak. He's shooting on five threes
Speaker 1: per game during the six gamer UM. The second half
Speaker 1: was a complete sloppy mess, but it was fun to watch.
Speaker 1: I was enjoying the game. I actually chose to watch
Speaker 1: this game over football. UM. Boston was just missing all
Speaker 1: sorts of wide open threes on one end, and then
Speaker 1: on the other end of the floor. When Boston really
Speaker 1: locked in defensively and started switching everything, it kind of
Speaker 1: neutralized that Franz Wagner pick and roll that they ran
Speaker 1: a lot in the first game. UM and just in
Speaker 1: general stagnated Orlando and they made a lot of sloppy decisions.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of sloppy basketball both ways. But
Speaker 1: then at the end of the game, a bunch of
Speaker 1: key players for the Magic stepped up and made hustle
Speaker 1: plays that ended up changing the outcome of the game.
Speaker 1: I thought Admiral Scofield came in and played really good defense.
Speaker 1: He also hit two huge threes in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: and a nice closeout attack for a layup. And then
Speaker 1: Marquelle Foltz Um five minutes five minutes left in the
Speaker 1: game in the fourth quarter had a really nice ice
Speaker 1: o drive and finish on Jalen Brown in two gigantic
Speaker 1: offensive rebounds in crunch time, including a key one grabbed
Speaker 1: and kicked it out. The Franz Wagner at the top
Speaker 1: of the queue hit the dagger for three to put
Speaker 1: the magic up four. You know, he's a freak athlete
Speaker 1: at the guard position. I know he's had a really
Speaker 1: complicated and unfortunate start to his career for a bunch
Speaker 1: of different reasons. We don't have to get into that,
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, from a talent perspective,
Speaker 1: he's still one of the most athletic guards in the
Speaker 1: league who can dribble the basketball really, really well. And
Speaker 1: what I appreciated the most is you can tell he's
Speaker 1: playing with a chip on his shoulder, like competing on
Speaker 1: the glass and trying to win games that way that
Speaker 1: you don't see that overly often from young players who
Speaker 1: are high level draft picks, because they try to impact
Speaker 1: the game with their supreme level of skill. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think in a lot of ways, the unfortunate start
Speaker 1: to Mark hell Foltz's career has forced him to play
Speaker 1: with a chip on his shoulder, and it's kind of
Speaker 1: cool to see him impacting winning in ways that go
Speaker 1: beyond what we saw from him in college. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: it's funny because the story of this Orlando streak is
Speaker 1: it really comes down to defense. Their fifth in defense
Speaker 1: over the span. Their perimeter size is just a legitimate
Speaker 1: issue for teams when they get crowding you on the
Speaker 1: ball and in help side. There's just so many long
Speaker 1: arms everywhere that it makes it really difficult for you
Speaker 1: to score and feel comfortable as you're going into your shots,
Speaker 1: as you're going into your kickouts and things along those lines. Um.
Speaker 1: But what's most interesting to me is everybody on that
Speaker 1: magic roster is playing like a shockingly physical brand of basketball.
Speaker 1: Like I really thought they bullied Boston in both of
Speaker 1: these games. And that's so unusual because usually young players
Speaker 1: struggle with physicality. It's usually the grown men in their thirties,
Speaker 1: you know, an old veteran basketball team that's comfortable and
Speaker 1: loves to play in the physicality because as you age,
Speaker 1: you have to make up for your lack of athleticism
Speaker 1: with more leverage, physical leverage situations just how you learned
Speaker 1: to you know, kind of make up for that decline.
Speaker 1: But it's unusually a very physical team for Atlanto. Their
Speaker 1: fifth in defensive rating over their last six games, fifth
Speaker 1: and rebounding percentage, and then on the offensive end of
Speaker 1: the floor, it's just four big guards leading the way,
Speaker 1: Palo Fronts, Bow, Wagner and Bull Bull. Those four guys
Speaker 1: are combining for seventy one points per game, twenty five rebounds,
Speaker 1: and tennis sists over the course of the six game
Speaker 1: Street Stretch. All of them are hitting their three point shot. UM.
Speaker 1: They continue to just be a really really interesting young team. Now,
Speaker 1: we'll see, as you saw against Boston there in that
Speaker 1: second half, their decision making still is a problem. You know, Uh,
Speaker 1: Cole Anthony is all over the place with his decision making.
Speaker 1: Markel Folts made some questionable decisions down the second half
Speaker 1: of that game. They compete, They have a lot of talent,
Speaker 1: but what they really desperately need is a smart guard
Speaker 1: that can come in and just kind of organize them,
Speaker 1: especially when the game really slows down. UM. Looking at Boston,
Speaker 1: they've lost four out of five. Should be five in
Speaker 1: a row if it wasn't for the Lakers blowing that
Speaker 1: thirteen point leave befour minutes left. And to be honest,
Speaker 1: you know, I've I've I've watched every single one of
Speaker 1: these games, and I've I've looked closely at the numbers,
Speaker 1: and i know it sounds really simple but it just
Speaker 1: comes down to missing shots. They are fifty three for
Speaker 1: one on threes that were tracked as open or wide
Speaker 1: open during this five game stretch. Um for the season,
Speaker 1: coming into this stretch, they were making sixteen shots a
Speaker 1: game in the restricted area and averaging seven assists after
Speaker 1: that stretch. So in this last five games they're only
Speaker 1: averaging eleven makes and the restricted area, leading to just
Speaker 1: twenty two assists. So, as you can tell, it's kind
Speaker 1: of like a cascading effect. They're not hitting their open threes,
Speaker 1: which is leading teams to to pack the paint more,
Speaker 1: which is taking away their opportunities at the rim, and
Speaker 1: it's really stilting their driving kick game. Their defense has
Speaker 1: been okay, not great. They're allowing a hundred nine point
Speaker 1: five points per a hunter possession. But again, when you're
Speaker 1: missing a lot of threes, those are long rebounds, and
Speaker 1: long rebounds lead to fast break opportunities. And they're not
Speaker 1: rebounding well either. They're only securing forty seven point six
Speaker 1: percent of available rebounds, which is twenty three in the
Speaker 1: league over that span. So when you're missing a lot
Speaker 1: of shots and you're not securing rebounds, you're gonna give
Speaker 1: up transition opportunities, and that's where problems are gonna arise.
Speaker 1: They're giving up fifteen fast break points per game um
Speaker 1: over this five game stretch, which is nineteen in the league.
Speaker 1: So honestly, if they can beat a little bit harder
Speaker 1: on the glass and they start to hit some shots,
Speaker 1: things should turn around. And then, honestly, Jayson Tatum, uh uh,
Speaker 1: he's only shooting about over this span. He needs to
Speaker 1: get his act together as well. Al Right, guys, that
Speaker 1: is all I have for today. As always, I sincerely
Speaker 1: appreciate your support. Game plan for this week, We're gonna
Speaker 1: be doing night shows on Tuesday and Wednesday night. Then
Speaker 1: we're taking Thursday, Friday, Saturday off for the holiday. We
Speaker 1: are doing three different instant reaction videos on Sunday for
Speaker 1: Christmas Day. I'm very very excited about that. I will
Speaker 1: see you guys tomorrow night. The volume