Speaker 1: The volume. Well, I've said it before, Fubo is one
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Speaker 1: slash Colin, fifty bucks off two months Fubo. Well, you're
Speaker 1: going to hear him more regularly now over the next
Speaker 1: seven weeks. Jason Timp, host of Hoops Tonight. As we
Speaker 1: get very close to the playoffs, the young teams OKAC
Speaker 1: and Houston still playing their ass off, and the old
Speaker 1: teams are resting and reducing minutes, so you get you know,
Speaker 1: March is such a weird month for the NBA as
Speaker 1: you watch college basketball and playing a Walt of this passion.
Speaker 1: I want to start with a little college basketball. So
Speaker 1: you know, the minute Michigan State got down ten, it's
Speaker 1: over because they can't shoot threes. They're like three hundred
Speaker 1: and eighteenth on field goals made, three pointers made, Like
Speaker 1: it's over. But all four teams are great defensive teams. Houston, Duke, Auburn, Florida.
Speaker 1: In my take is, you have to be in college basketball.
Speaker 1: Even Saint John's has no shooters. So the truth is
Speaker 1: in the game. Like when you watch Duke, you're like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's Cooper Flag could play in the NBA right now
Speaker 1: at eighteen, Like he's that good. Not Lebron good at eighteen,
Speaker 1: but he's really really good. Any big takeaway from college basketball,
Speaker 1: I've never understood why college basketball fans want less talented
Speaker 1: teams in the Final four. They all root for Cinderella,
Speaker 1: And I'm like, I was supposed to be bummed out
Speaker 1: because Duke and Houston are playing, Like, what are we
Speaker 1: talking about here?
Speaker 2: Any thoughts from you?
Speaker 3: The problem is is that to your point, in order
Speaker 3: to go on a deep run in the tournament, you
Speaker 3: have to be great on defense. Yes, and the skill
Speaker 3: level is just so dramatically low compared to the NBA
Speaker 3: that when the high level defense is played, it's really
Speaker 3: hard to create shots. Honestly, it was one of the
Speaker 3: few reasons why I was actually a little optimistic about
Speaker 3: Arizona going into this tournament, as I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: Caleb Love is a grown up who can score, and
Speaker 3: they're great defense, and if they pair those two together,
Speaker 3: they can make some noise. Cooper Flag has been fun,
Speaker 3: you know, Colin. I was talking with Josh Goldman before
Speaker 3: the show today and he was like, Hey, let's talk
Speaker 3: a little Cooper Flag. And so I was watching some
Speaker 3: film of him from the tournament, and you know, the
Speaker 3: guy he actually kind of reminds me of, and I
Speaker 3: mean this sincerely as a compliment, is Jason Tatum. He
Speaker 3: projects to be a big, strong forward at his position
Speaker 3: who has a ton of attributes, none of which are
Speaker 3: like eye popping, Like he's a good athlete, but he's
Speaker 3: not this earth shattering athlete. He's got a good first step,
Speaker 3: not a great first step. He protects to be a
Speaker 3: good shooter, not an elite shooter. He can do stuff
Speaker 3: on the ball, but he can also operate like he
Speaker 3: did against Arizona as a screen and rollfeck for a while.
Speaker 3: He just is super versatile and can do all these
Speaker 3: different things, and I think of him as that type
Speaker 3: of player with almost a little bit more upside, just
Speaker 3: simply because I think that Cooper Flag's motor runs hotter
Speaker 3: than a guy like Tatum who can can kind of
Speaker 3: lack that from time to time, but overall, like I
Speaker 3: was watching him and it's just one of those like
Speaker 3: no brainer type of draft picks where it's like there's
Speaker 3: no like giant red Flag that would get you off
Speaker 3: of him. I look at him as just a shoe in,
Speaker 3: you know, fifteen to twenty year All star type of pro.
Speaker 2: This is what I have said.
Speaker 1: I think he's Jason Tatum with a little nastiness to him.
Speaker 2: He likes to finish.
Speaker 1: He'll be a better finisher early in his career. Tatum
Speaker 1: sometimes now, not this year necessarily, but there are times
Speaker 1: in Tatum's career He's let the game come to him
Speaker 1: and Cooper's more aggressive. Cooper's gonna take the game to you,
Speaker 1: and he's and even in college where even Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: in college, you know, you play within the system. You
Speaker 1: have the coach and the brand. Cooper will take it over.
Speaker 1: Cooper on a break will be like, I'm gonna take this.
Speaker 1: And I mean there's even the story about Jason Tatum's
Speaker 1: dad saying, yeah, I wish my son, you know, played
Speaker 1: with a little more edge. But I look at Cooper
Speaker 1: flag as a B plus at everything, a minus at everything.
Speaker 1: Nothing is wow. Now I do think Jason Tatum there
Speaker 1: are some things now he's getting close to a material.
Speaker 1: First of all, his durability. He's hurt recently, He's never hurt.
Speaker 1: He's got I mean, the guy just plays a lot
Speaker 1: of minutes, a lot of games, and he plays hard
Speaker 1: all the time. And I do think Jason Tatum has
Speaker 1: heard people criticize him about kind of an apathy at
Speaker 1: times in big moments, and I think he's corse correct that.
Speaker 1: I think he's been more aggressive this year when I've
Speaker 1: watched him, So I think he's been This's the best
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum I've seen. But it's exciting. I've said this before.
Speaker 1: I love the NBA so obviously dur in the football season,
Speaker 1: I don't talk it much, but by late January I
Speaker 1: start watching. By mid February, I'm watching every night. And
Speaker 1: my take is what we need is more great players
Speaker 1: ready to play out of big, big college brands. I
Speaker 1: think the NBA thought they could do it themselves for
Speaker 1: the G League and then they kind of realize, you know,
Speaker 1: college basketball is really popular, especially in March.
Speaker 2: And I've said this before.
Speaker 1: You go make three hundred thousand in the G League
Speaker 1: or get three million dollars in marketing playing for North Carolina,
Speaker 1: Arizona or Duke.
Speaker 2: Take the marketing.
Speaker 1: And by the way, those guys have chefs, all of them,
Speaker 1: Gonzaga chefs, swag twenty pair of shoes like it's it's
Speaker 1: a pretty good life in college. It may not be
Speaker 1: as good as the G League, but I would argue
Speaker 1: Duke's campus and what you get from the coaching down
Speaker 1: the sh is just as good as the G League
Speaker 1: for one year. Then it's exponentially better because of all
Speaker 1: the marketing. We don't know who Zion is without Duke,
Speaker 1: I have no idea. So I think I think college
Speaker 1: basketball fortifying the NBA helps. I mean, let's be honest.
Speaker 1: The reason I mean NFL has these college legends. Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield is a brand the minute he lands like they
Speaker 1: was pretty rare that Zion was a brand day one.
Speaker 1: I mean, NFL gives you about three of those a year,
Speaker 1: four of those a year quarterbacks. You're like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I know all about the cam Ward and Shader Sanders.
Speaker 1: They're brands right now, they'll sell tomorrow. So I think
Speaker 1: I made a mistake. I overthought it. I took Arizona
Speaker 1: beating Duke. I think Duke's gonna win it though, anybody
Speaker 1: you like.
Speaker 3: I would say Houston's looked really good. I've been disconnected
Speaker 3: from college hoops relative to most people because I just
Speaker 3: dive headlong into the NBA. That's it. Yeah, I would
Speaker 3: say Duke or I like the point you made about
Speaker 3: about Tatum and his durability. I saw that clip going
Speaker 3: around social media while I was traveling this weekend, and
Speaker 3: I'm so glad you emphasized that, because that, to me,
Speaker 3: is becoming such an underrated element in this era as
Speaker 3: everyone's trying to grind through the regular season and all
Speaker 3: these teams are so good, you know. I look. I
Speaker 3: was listening to Pete and Darius from Laker Film Room
Speaker 3: while I was on my plane today and they were
Speaker 3: talking about last week's games, and they were talking about
Speaker 3: how in the future as the Lakers are planning for
Speaker 3: what they're going to be doing. They need to bank on,
Speaker 3: you know, Lebron and Luca both missing twenty games. Yes,
Speaker 3: And when they said that, I was sitting there thinking,
Speaker 3: I was like, it's insane that, Like Luca is going
Speaker 3: to be twenty six next year, and we it feels
Speaker 3: like a safe bet that he's going to miss somewhere
Speaker 3: between fifteen and twenty games, like that's a fourth of
Speaker 3: the season and that, and it makes it so much
Speaker 3: harder night in and night out. I mean, look at
Speaker 3: the injuries in the way the Lakers spiraled under the
Speaker 3: injuries to their front court over the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 3: And so again when you're looking at Tatum, I think
Speaker 3: Jokich is another great example of this. I think Shake
Speaker 3: Gilders Alexander is another example of this. The dudes where
Speaker 3: you can book them for seventy five plus games, they
Speaker 3: just give you such a high floor as you go
Speaker 3: through the regular season, and I think it is definitely
Speaker 3: an underrated trade. But I've enjoyed watching the college hoops,
Speaker 3: you know, in the casinos and stuff as I'm walking
Speaker 3: around Vegas this last weekend. The intensity is just another level.
Speaker 3: You mentioned it as like a breeding ground for like
Speaker 3: big personalities in the NBA. I also just think of
Speaker 3: it as just a great place for a basketball player
Speaker 3: to develop. You know, one of the things we talked
Speaker 3: about the playoffs is like, oh, the refs make it
Speaker 3: more physical. It's not that the players make it more physical.
Speaker 3: Everything's on the line. Finally, for eighty two games, they're
Speaker 3: just getting through it, and then you put the Larry
Speaker 3: O'Brien on the line and you have to win those games.
Speaker 3: They rotate, they're in help side defense, they're making all
Speaker 3: these efforts that are inconsistent in the regular season. You
Speaker 3: want to know why college basketball looks so ugly. Sometimes
Speaker 3: they're incredibly well coached and they play every possession like
Speaker 3: it's the last possession they're ever going to play. So
Speaker 3: you see these loaded up help side defenses, the rotations,
Speaker 3: there's everything that looks like in open three, the dude's
Speaker 3: sprinting at him like it's his final close out he's
Speaker 3: ever going to throw in his life. And I just
Speaker 3: think that's a great spot for a basketball player to
Speaker 3: learn how to process information and make reads and re
Speaker 3: see the floor. How are they sped up or can
Speaker 3: they slow down? And thrive in that environment. For the record,
Speaker 3: like Cooper's just thriving, Like that's a good Arizona defense.
Speaker 3: That was throwing the kitchen sink at him and he
Speaker 3: was cooking them. And I just think I think it's
Speaker 3: a great I think it's just a great part, a
Speaker 3: fundamental part of basketball player development. And that's why I
Speaker 3: would like to see that maintained over the years.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean as a parent my kids going to college,
Speaker 1: I said, guys, I don't you're both great students. You
Speaker 1: got some scholarship money. I don't care if you're be
Speaker 1: students in college. Like high school's weirdly more important than college.
Speaker 1: You have to get into college, I said. Once you
Speaker 1: get to college, go to a party, you know, you
Speaker 1: have friends sleep in. I'm like, you know, it's so
Speaker 1: I feel like like college for players for a year
Speaker 1: or two, it's like that you're gonna you're gonna you're
Speaker 1: gonna connect with people you would have never met anywhere
Speaker 1: else in the world. You're gonna have a couple of
Speaker 1: international guys. You know, you're gonna have a couple seniors.
Speaker 1: Somebody on the coaching staff's gonna yell at you. It's
Speaker 1: it's you know, the G League. Everybody's going in the
Speaker 1: same direction. There's guys on even like Kentucky's college team,
Speaker 1: they're not playing they're going international, they're not playing in
Speaker 1: the pros. So I just I love the idea for
Speaker 1: a couple of years. I just think college was so
Speaker 1: valuable for me, and I love to see high school players.
Speaker 1: Nothing against Jalen Green's journey, but I love the idea
Speaker 1: of going to college for Cooper Flag And it's just like,
Speaker 1: you know, you're part of something like your Duke basketball,
Speaker 1: You're part of something you know you go play for,
Speaker 1: you know, the El Segundo G League team that's basically
Speaker 1: that's an apartment called complex. Everybody's trying to get out
Speaker 1: of it as fast as they can, right whereas college
Speaker 1: is a little bit more like a house, like for
Speaker 1: a lot of players, you know, they get to Duke and.
Speaker 2: I don't want to leave.
Speaker 1: They're not playing in the NBA many this is a
Speaker 1: home in a neighborhood, in a community. So I just
Speaker 1: I've always loved college basketball. It's a little bit of
Speaker 1: a turnstyle now, so it's harder to follow than the NBA.
Speaker 1: You can't, you know, except for a Duke or an Auburn.
Speaker 1: It's hard for me to name multiple players. I do
Speaker 1: want to talk about something though, about you know that
Speaker 1: there was a comment I thought was interesting. Lebron was
Speaker 1: on a podcast or a show and he talked about,
Speaker 1: you know, Jannis would have scored two hundred and fifty.
Speaker 2: Points back in the seventies.
Speaker 1: And I laughed because I thought, no, because they'd found
Speaker 1: him and he can't hit free throws, so it wouldn't work.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's interesting because I grew up with
Speaker 1: the seventies basketball and I loved it, and I do
Speaker 1: think sometimes, you know, the players set in nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: three have grown half an inch. The NBA was big
Speaker 1: and athletic then. Now nutrition's better, travels better, But it
Speaker 1: was I didn't love Lebron saying that I was like Lebron.
Speaker 1: Wilt and Jerry West played in the seventies, Doctor j
Speaker 1: played in the seventies. Bill Walton played in the seventies.
Speaker 1: I don't know why it didn't bother me, but it
Speaker 1: was one of those I heard it and I thought, no, honest, now,
Speaker 1: you honest man have averaged forty but he can't shoot
Speaker 1: like he can't shoot. What did you make of that
Speaker 1: comment and your thoughts about generational comparisons.
Speaker 3: Well, that for that exact reason, like you mentioned the size,
Speaker 3: if it was not just size back then, spacing was
Speaker 3: poor back then, and in general, like Giannis would have
Speaker 3: been running into a lot of bodies. That said, I
Speaker 3: firmly believe Jianness would average forty forty five if you
Speaker 3: played in that era, just simply because it would be
Speaker 3: like a man amongst boys in terms of the athletes
Speaker 3: that he'd be competing with. I just a couple things.
Speaker 3: I don't see any point in comparing era to era
Speaker 3: in general. I mean, like we talked about the seventies
Speaker 3: like it was not that long as fifty years ago
Speaker 3: now like it's a half century ago. And in general,
Speaker 3: there's just been so many changes schematically, there's been so
Speaker 3: many changes in player development and the skill. Like you know,
Speaker 3: what's always so funny to me when you go back
Speaker 3: and you watch basketball players in the sixties and seventies,
Speaker 3: the jump shots are all weird looking. And one of
Speaker 3: the reasons why the jump shots are all weird looking
Speaker 3: is they didn't get to go on YouTube or go
Speaker 3: turn on the TV and watch their favorite players play
Speaker 3: when they were kids. They taught themselves out of shoot.
Speaker 3: Everyone today kind of shoots more or less the same
Speaker 3: type of jump shot, and yeah, some people look weird,
Speaker 3: but most people should shoot the same.
Speaker 1: Sort of The shame of golf swings, by the way,
Speaker 1: the unique golf swing is over.
Speaker 3: Exactly because now it's been optimized. We've optimized it. Now
Speaker 3: you reach your hand in to the cookie jar, you
Speaker 3: start from the legs. No wasted motion. We don't want
Speaker 3: to hitch in the shot, you know. And so it's
Speaker 3: one of those things where like we've just perfected this
Speaker 3: sport in so many different ways, and you know, one
Speaker 3: of the things that I disc like about it, and
Speaker 3: it kind of goes back to what we talked about
Speaker 3: when we were talking about Stephen A. Smith a couple
Speaker 3: of weeks ago. But when you I don't believe in
Speaker 3: stooping down to that level you, by the way, are
Speaker 3: you have a saying that you've used over the years
Speaker 3: that I've loved You said, I can have an opinion,
Speaker 3: and you can have an opinion on my opinion. I
Speaker 3: don't need to have an opinion on your opinion of
Speaker 3: my opinion, which, by the way, is like a foundational
Speaker 3: thing that I lean on what I'm doing, what I
Speaker 3: do too, And like one of the big things that
Speaker 3: I look at there is like, Okay, Lebron, you're playing basketball. Okay,
Speaker 3: these old guys are trashing your era. What good does
Speaker 3: it do to then step in and then be disrespectful
Speaker 3: to their era? That doesn't serve a purpose. In my opinion,
Speaker 3: it kind of is it's stooping to that level. It
Speaker 3: doesn't forward the conversation. And like from that same point,
Speaker 3: I feel like Lebron is just shouldn't be the guy
Speaker 3: sending that type of message that he's trying to send.
Speaker 3: That said, like, I think in general, Lebron's just sick
Speaker 3: and tired of getting criticized by like the MJ clan,
Speaker 3: the throwback like the old League was better type of clan.
Speaker 3: And I think he's just sick of it, and I
Speaker 3: think he's acting out.
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Speaker 1: You Know it's I had a commentary this weekend that
Speaker 1: I do essays on Sundays most most Sundays, and we
Speaker 1: were talking about you know, lead management, overload management, and
Speaker 1: I like SGA and and Tatum they play the regular games.
Speaker 1: One of the things that I think is really interesting
Speaker 1: about Tatum and the Celtics.
Speaker 2: Is that.
Speaker 1: And I think this is this is rare. So when
Speaker 1: teams win a championship, so ok s in Houston and Cleveland.
Speaker 1: I mean, these teams are this is the old Derrick
Speaker 1: Rose Bulls. Like you get the when you get the
Speaker 1: combination of really good team playing hard, you know that
Speaker 1: you win the sixty games. I tell you, I watch
Speaker 1: Boston and they'll have a guy missing every night. Drew
Speaker 1: Holliday's got a bad finger, poor Zingis. I'm telling you, though, Jason,
Speaker 1: that team plays are oursof they play hard and they
Speaker 1: coach hard, like Missoula is still barking. It's very rare.
Speaker 1: Once you get the ring, generally you pull back. Everybody
Speaker 1: does rotational stuff like okay, it's your night, off your
Speaker 1: night off their depth, Peyton Pritcher. The other night, I'm
Speaker 1: watching howser jackup threes. I'm like Jesus Man Horford can
Speaker 1: still play. I said it last year and I'll say
Speaker 1: it again.
Speaker 2: I just I don't.
Speaker 1: Remember an NBA team that deep, like Denver a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago with their title, when they had everybody
Speaker 1: KCP Brown that team, You're like, Okay, they got eight dudes,
Speaker 1: I trust to hit a shot and then quickly, you know,
Speaker 1: quickly all the aprons they're moving off.
Speaker 2: Guys.
Speaker 1: I know everybody likes Cleveland, and okase, I don't think
Speaker 1: anybody beats Boston because there is no switch they need
Speaker 1: to click. They're intense. I mean, I'll watch them play.
Speaker 1: They will jump out to huge leads against the Knicks
Speaker 1: in the first quarter. They will go toe to toe.
Speaker 1: They'll go into a bad team and blow them out.
Speaker 1: It'll be forty twenty four early. Do you think they stumble?
Speaker 1: I mean, what is your take on them?
Speaker 3: So I think that they're vulnerable in the same way
Speaker 3: that everybody in the top tier is vulnerable. To a
Speaker 3: certain extent. Cleveland has started to show some limitations over
Speaker 3: the course of the last couple of weeks too. I
Speaker 3: don't think anybody's unbeatable, but I have never wavered from
Speaker 3: Boston as my favorite this year. You've been really keyed
Speaker 3: in on this lately, and I think it's really smart,
Speaker 3: which is that there is a difference between a rotation
Speaker 3: of a bunch of young twenty year olds navigating the
Speaker 3: NBA season versus a bunch of dudes in their late
Speaker 3: twenties and early thirties. It's a fundamental difference, and just
Speaker 3: the level of urgency every single day. I think there's
Speaker 3: the obvious talent conundrum they present to teams, which is
Speaker 3: they just have way more good players than most teams.
Speaker 3: But I also think that it's time that we acknowledge
Speaker 3: Boston organizationally, from the top down, is the most well run.
Speaker 3: Because yes, you've got willingness to spend, a front office
Speaker 3: led by Brad Stevens that is obsessed with finding guys
Speaker 3: that can dribble, shoot, pass, and defend. It's like a
Speaker 3: mandatory foursome for him to consider you as an investment
Speaker 3: for the franchise, a coaching staff that has built a
Speaker 3: drive and kick scheme, and really a culture that is
Speaker 3: all about pursuing the great shot over the good shot.
Speaker 3: And then you've got the players that are all bought
Speaker 3: into it. And so it's from the top down and
Speaker 3: one of the reasons why I think that's so impressive.
Speaker 3: One of the ways that manifested I thought was that
Speaker 3: ass kicking that they delivered the other night. Without Jason Tatum.
Speaker 3: You get a group of guys without Jason Tatum going
Speaker 3: on the road into Phoenix against a really good and
Speaker 3: a Sun's team that was playing good basketball, not a
Speaker 3: really good team. I watched that, but they were Yeah,
Speaker 3: they were like I think four and one in the
Speaker 3: previous five. The Suns are the classic like We're gonna
Speaker 3: try hard for a week or two, but then we
Speaker 3: realize we don't have enough horses, so we just let
Speaker 3: go the bro. But in that game, you can see
Speaker 3: them just playing a style of basketball which is like
Speaker 3: modern four out one in driving kickspacing basketball, which requires
Speaker 3: incrementally breaking down the defense. So Jalen Brown identifies where
Speaker 3: the advantages, kicks it to a guy who's open. Once
Speaker 3: that guy's open, his job is not to shoot necessarily.
Speaker 3: His job is to drive the clothes out to get
Speaker 3: past the guy going at him, draw another helper, and
Speaker 3: you incrementally break down the defense until you get these
Speaker 3: unbelievable wide open shots. And what was so funny about
Speaker 3: that game is it was almost like, oh, Tatum's out,
Speaker 3: We're not going to be able to lean on individual
Speaker 3: greatness as much tonight. Let's play Celtic's basketball. And that's
Speaker 3: the key. They have Celtics basketball separate from Jason Tatum.
Speaker 3: Jason Tatum fits into Celtic's basket ball and he makes
Speaker 3: it better. He's a force multiplier for Celtics basketball. But
Speaker 3: Celtics basketball is about an organizational approach, starting with Brad
Speaker 3: Stevens all the way down in the willingness to play
Speaker 3: for each other in a driving kick scheme, to get
Speaker 3: great shots, in the willingness to defend and all of
Speaker 3: that is part of what makes the Celtics the Celtics.
Speaker 3: And that's what you want to know why a team
Speaker 3: has sustained success, meaning the Celtics team that has been
Speaker 3: a threat in the Eastern Conference for my entire life
Speaker 3: as an adult, like dating back to before the Paul
Speaker 3: Pearson Kevin Garnett partnership with Ray Allen, so like, they
Speaker 3: have a culture that has been established and it's the
Speaker 3: only way to have sustain success in the NBA. I
Speaker 3: think it's super super impressive.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, It's interesting. The other day I was
Speaker 1: saying about Okay, See, I'm like, I know they're gonna
Speaker 1: win into some series.
Speaker 2: I know they're really good.
Speaker 1: I'm not doubting that brilliant GM. I don't think SGA
Speaker 1: will quite get that whistle in the postseason, but he'll
Speaker 1: get a whistle if chet Holngren's healthy. They've got some
Speaker 1: offensive options. I do worry about their young players in
Speaker 1: big road games. You know, everything changes. No sport in
Speaker 1: our country changes more from regular season to postseason. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm watching here today. You got to fight in the
Speaker 1: NBA Missa's coaches, and you're getting feisty now in playoff seating,
Speaker 1: and it's like it changes the game. It's an outside
Speaker 1: of the COVID year men win in the playoffs. Young
Speaker 1: men can do really well in the regular season. But
Speaker 1: the one thing about Oklahoma City, Tom Tolbert texted me
Speaker 1: when I was talking about him, he goes, they lead
Speaker 1: the NBA and assists, or they lead the NBA in
Speaker 1: creating turnovers, but have the fewest turnovers. They just are
Speaker 1: really really efficient. They don't turn it over and they
Speaker 1: force turnovers. Is there, like, I don't think Golden State
Speaker 1: could beat Okay See, I think Golden State would be Houston.
Speaker 1: I don't do Houston shootings better today than three months ago.
Speaker 1: I still don't trust them in a big playoffs spot.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City to me is they're like Cleveland the last
Speaker 1: couple years. They're gonna win playoff series. They're just too good.
Speaker 1: They got too many good players, too good of a coach.
Speaker 1: Go deep dive on Oklahoma City. And because I look
Speaker 1: at them and I think they have two or three
Speaker 1: things that really matter.
Speaker 2: They're well coached.
Speaker 1: A dominant score so they know layden games in a
Speaker 1: playoff game, here's where the ball goes.
Speaker 2: That is so important.
Speaker 1: The great teams all have that. Denver had it with Jokic,
Speaker 1: and generally, like the Spurs, you'll have a second guy
Speaker 1: in Tony Parker. If Duncan gets doubled, it's great to
Speaker 1: have too. And if home Groun's healthy, I trust him
Speaker 1: at a big spot hitting a shot.
Speaker 2: He's a great player.
Speaker 1: So they have an identifiable star and a co star.
Speaker 1: They're well coached, they play real defense. They're not they're young,
Speaker 1: but they're not inexperienced like these guys have played in
Speaker 1: big colleges, big big moments. I think they're a Western
Speaker 1: Conference finals team.
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 1: I mean, I would take the Lakers over them, and
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I'm being a homer. I would
Speaker 1: just take Lebron and Luca and the possessions and a
Speaker 1: half and a game. What do you think their journey
Speaker 1: looks like in the postseason.
Speaker 3: So their defense, I'm one hundred percent sold on will
Speaker 3: perform really well. The only team that I'm worried about
Speaker 3: them defensively against is the Lakers because Lebron and Luca
Speaker 3: attacking their smaller perimeter players. The Oklahoma City's defense is
Speaker 3: nearly perfectly constructed. They're incredibly fast on the perimeter, and
Speaker 3: Mark Daganol has built their scheme towards forward aggression and
Speaker 3: passing lanes to try to build to force turnovers. It's
Speaker 3: optimized towards the type of personnel they have. They also
Speaker 3: have rim protection in chet Holmgren, which is a very
Speaker 3: important part of success in the playoffs. And then they
Speaker 3: have a couple of different types of defenders that are
Speaker 3: especially valuable. So, for instance, Lou Dort is one of
Speaker 3: the very best guys in the league that you can
Speaker 3: throw against a big star forward and like, there's just
Speaker 3: so many of them in the Western conferen is. Whether
Speaker 3: it's Luca and Lebron, or it's literally Kawhi Leonard, or
Speaker 3: it's Kevin Durant, whoever it's your playing, there's all these
Speaker 3: star forwards. He's a great option. Isaia Hartenstein has kind
Speaker 3: of come to the surface as like a guy they
Speaker 3: use for the bigger power players, and he's had a
Speaker 3: lot of success either way.
Speaker 1: The Knicks have missed him defensively, no question.
Speaker 3: Yeah, his ability to defend in a bunch of different
Speaker 3: types of coverages, but specifically to handle the big, strong,
Speaker 3: bullyball types of players has been a huge asset to
Speaker 3: that Thunder defense. The only weakness I see in the
Speaker 3: Thunder defense is size as an aggregate thing, particularly on
Speaker 3: the perimeter, and it manifests in bad defensive rebounding, which
Speaker 3: has been a consistent thing they've struggled with over the years.
Speaker 3: And then that's where I can see some vulnerability where
Speaker 3: it's like, Okay, you put lou dord on Luca, great,
Speaker 3: who's guarding Lebron. There's just nobody else on the roster
Speaker 3: that can make Lebron feel really all that uncomfortable. So
Speaker 3: I think that's what we're saying. The offensive end is
Speaker 3: where I see some cracks in the armor, in the
Speaker 3: sense that they thrive in transition off the strength of
Speaker 3: their defense. But what happens if there's a team that
Speaker 3: takes really good care of the basketball and controls pace
Speaker 3: and keeps Okay see trapped in the half court and
Speaker 3: it's a big, high leverage playoff series where you need
Speaker 3: j Dubb and Chet and Dort and these guys to
Speaker 3: be effective offensively. And again, I want to be clear,
Speaker 3: I'm not trying to nitpick here because we are. I
Speaker 3: should be clear we are nitpicking here because this is
Speaker 3: the one seed in the Western Conference. As I agree
Speaker 3: with you, I would be stunned if they didn't make
Speaker 3: it to the conference finals. But in the conference finals context,
Speaker 3: if they faced a Denver or a Lakers, I think
Speaker 3: it's at least worth mentioning that those teams would be
Speaker 3: dramatically more experienced and dramatically bigger on the perimeter. One
Speaker 3: last thing I'll say about it, they do rely heavily
Speaker 3: on Shay Gilders Alexander pull up shooting when things go
Speaker 3: south for them offensively. In those situations, I like a
Speaker 3: team of a bunch of six' eight six y nine
Speaker 3: guys that have long arms to, contest and that's something
Speaker 3: WHERE i could see that being a valuable of. Value
Speaker 3: SO i think they deserve to be the. Favorite but,
Speaker 3: Yeah i'm with you to where like IF i saw
Speaker 3: The lakers in The thunder about to play in A
Speaker 3: Western conference, finals it'd be really hard for me to
Speaker 3: not pick A. A.
Speaker 1: Yeah it's interesting because The lakers are the rare team
Speaker 1: that doesn't have a dominant, center but they're actually big and. Long,
Speaker 1: Yeah ruey, Everywhere Jackson, hayes everybody's big and, long Even
Speaker 1: Austin reeves. Is and they're also very comfortable offensively with.
Speaker 1: Contact Austin, Lebron luca Like. Ruey they like. Contact they're
Speaker 1: a team that you could see in playoff games getting
Speaker 1: to the line a. Lot you know WHAT i found,
Speaker 1: Interesting And i've always Liked Austin. Reeves my argument is
Speaker 1: you can't win a championship if he's your. Two i'm
Speaker 1: not sure you. Can if he's a, three you're absolutely
Speaker 1: an excellent team if he's a. Four so he's a
Speaker 1: three on this. Team but it was interesting When luca.
Speaker 1: CAME i thought oh, boy is he gonna get as many.
Speaker 1: Touches it's weird The luca Because Luca's lebron's a great.
Speaker 1: Pastor luca is very good at getting the ball. Ahead
Speaker 1: SOMETIMES i think he does. It so this is my
Speaker 1: thing With. Luca SOMETIMES i think he's one of the
Speaker 1: Great he And, jokic they're great down the court, passers
Speaker 1: they are great. Quarterbacks Sometimes i'm, Like luca just doesn't
Speaker 1: want to defend These like you, Guys i'm gonna get
Speaker 1: the ball up the. Floor it's too far for me
Speaker 1: to lack this go, ahead take the. Play and that's
Speaker 1: my you, Know and that's kind of My luca criticism
Speaker 1: is that he's a defense is more of a hobby
Speaker 1: than it, is you, know a.
Speaker 2: Vocation But.
Speaker 1: Austin, reeves this has been the most impressive he's been
Speaker 1: to me BECAUSE i honestly think With Anthony davis sometimes
Speaker 1: there was a sense AND i could be wrong in, This,
Speaker 1: jason but there was a sense sometimes slow it, down
Speaker 1: we got a big let's use. Him this is an
Speaker 1: opportunity For lebron in this half court. Set let's get
Speaker 1: it To Anthony. Davis and With luca And, lebron the
Speaker 1: tempo feels like really plays Into austin's game Because austin's
Speaker 1: good pass story likes, contact he likes the, ball he
Speaker 1: can play off, ball he, moves AND i feel strangely
Speaker 1: THAT i Thought luca would be a net. NEGATIVE i
Speaker 1: feel like it Makes austin. Better it's almost like there's
Speaker 1: there are Times, luca especially after he set a couple of,
Speaker 1: baskets not that he takes the total possession, off.
Speaker 2: But he likes. It he conserves.
Speaker 1: ENERGY i see that With lebron And lucas, Sometimes hey,
Speaker 1: kid this is this is your. Possession BUT i feel
Speaker 1: LIKE i this is the Best austin. Ipes i'm not
Speaker 1: sure if the efficiency ratings say, it BUT i feel
Speaker 1: like this is the most free he's.
Speaker 2: Played, no he's been.
Speaker 3: Excellent he's averaging in his last ten games over twenty
Speaker 3: seven points per game on over sixty seven percent true,
Speaker 3: shooting which is. Insane that's just field goal percentage waited
Speaker 3: for threes In for.
Speaker 1: Some of that is, mental like he feels like it's his, possession.
Speaker 3: Right, oh, absolutely there's there's a certain amount Of lebron's
Speaker 3: injury having been good for The lakers to help those
Speaker 3: guys get in a. Rhythm austin had been dealing with
Speaker 3: a calf injury IF i remember, correctly that he had
Speaker 3: just come back from and Then luca obviously had missed
Speaker 3: a good chunk of the, season and so both of
Speaker 3: those guys were a little out of rhythm in The
Speaker 3: celtics game in, particular Like austin And luca were both
Speaker 3: bad in The celtics game up until Like luca put
Speaker 3: up a big box, score but most of that was
Speaker 3: later in the. Game so like those, two When lebron was,
Speaker 3: out had an opportunity to really just get tons of
Speaker 3: touches and get their rhythm figured. Out and Till lebron's
Speaker 3: credit when he's come, back he hasn't really stepped on their.
Speaker 3: Toes and this is you, know we've talked a lot
Speaker 3: About Kevin durant being a plug and play, superstar AND
Speaker 3: i want to be, CLEAR i still think he's one
Speaker 3: of the very, best maybe the best plug in play star. Ever, Well,
Speaker 3: LEBRON i don't think it's enough credit for this in
Speaker 3: the sense that Like luca And austin come with their
Speaker 3: fair share of. Shortcomings Like austin's not a great, Athlete
Speaker 3: luca is a bad defensive. Player most of the, Time
Speaker 3: lebron is the guy that they can be, like, oh
Speaker 3: we need you to, run like run the offense in this.
Speaker 3: Stretch he can do, That, Hey austin's. COULD a great
Speaker 3: example of this was The pacers game When lebron hit
Speaker 3: the game winner in the second. Quarter lebron came out
Speaker 3: And austin was. Cooking austin was just frying everybody on The,
Speaker 3: pacers and so instead of co opting the, Offense lebron
Speaker 3: just set screens for him at the top of the
Speaker 3: key and played off Of austin and at the same,
Speaker 3: time like up before his, injury he was playing some
Speaker 3: of the best defense he had played in this late
Speaker 3: phase of his. Career he's basically taking all these elements
Speaker 3: of his game and picking and choosing how to plug
Speaker 3: them in into what the team needs in that particular.
Speaker 3: Game austin gets hurt in the second half of The pacers,
Speaker 3: game isn't out there in that fourth quarter, Stretch lebron
Speaker 3: needs to be a scorer. Again suddenly he goes out and,
Speaker 3: scores and he gets over ten points after he had
Speaker 3: three through the first three. Quarters like that's part Of
Speaker 3: lebron's versatility and how it fits into this. Picture the
Speaker 3: thing THAT i think is important to remember, too and
Speaker 3: this is one of the most common misconceptions about how
Speaker 3: we talk about star. Trades we, go, well there's only one,
Speaker 3: ball and the reality is is that basketball as a
Speaker 3: team sport against elite defense is about incrementally breaking down.
Speaker 3: Defenses like we were talking about With, Boston Austin, reeves
Speaker 3: when he catches the ball on the perimeter with the
Speaker 3: defender closing out at him and he looks to, score
Speaker 3: gets over one point three to five points per. Attempts
Speaker 3: that's sky, high meaning When austin's man helps On luca
Speaker 3: And lebron, Action austin is scoring almost every time in those.
Speaker 3: Situations the beauty of what makes The lakers so difficult
Speaker 3: to guard is that you can't really have enough resources
Speaker 3: to account for all of, them and inevitably one of
Speaker 3: them is going to get an, advantage And austin just
Speaker 3: does such an amazing job attacking with those. ADVANTAGES i
Speaker 3: think that there's no rhythm problem with those three. Guys
Speaker 3: any issues that we have with The, LAKERS i think
Speaker 3: should be centered around the defensive end of the. Floor rim,
Speaker 3: protection health things along those. LINES i am zero percent
Speaker 3: concerned About, Lebron luca And austin figuring out how to
Speaker 3: work together.
Speaker 4: Offensively the.
Speaker 2: Play in. TOURNAMENT i don't know if it's an, imperative.
Speaker 1: BUT i Think Golden state's better served not playing just
Speaker 1: because They you, know you want the fewest.
Speaker 2: Minutes But i'm gonna throw this at.
Speaker 1: You one of the Things i've talked about And i've
Speaker 1: text a few guys in THE nba about, this AND
Speaker 1: i Think Chris finch has talked about this and other
Speaker 1: players That european, players because it's all, academy come into
Speaker 1: THE nba more skilled and a lot of times more.
Speaker 1: Mature they've played against older, players the spotlight in their
Speaker 1: country has been on, them and they come in, like you,
Speaker 1: Know John moran And zion just weren't mature. Enough they
Speaker 1: were good, enough they weren't talented, enough they weren't quite mature.
Speaker 2: Enough and.
Speaker 1: Ready you don't see that with international. PLAYERS i mean
Speaker 1: sometimes they're. Boring they just come in and it's, basketball, sleep, basketball,
Speaker 1: sleep and you, know it's. Interesting this is not a
Speaker 1: maturity question With Jonathan, minga BUT i feel like If
Speaker 1: Jonathan kaminga would have come to us Via, europe he
Speaker 1: would have been more skilled. Early every TIME i Watched
Speaker 1: Jonathan kamena and you may have said, THIS i think
Speaker 1: you may have said, this And i'm digesting and consuming
Speaker 1: a lot OF nba comment common you, know content is
Speaker 1: that WHEN i watch The, Warriors i'm often left, Thinking,
Speaker 1: OKAY i Like cominga's length and, ACCELERATION i like his.
Speaker 2: Ability what is he great? At AND i Think.
Speaker 1: European players come to the league and you can see very, quickly,
Speaker 1: oh they're really good at, that and they're nineteen to.
Speaker 1: Twenty Cooper flagg is the rare college player where you're, like,
Speaker 1: man he's close to being great at a couple of.
Speaker 2: Things he's not there.
Speaker 1: YET i mean started the year he was seventeen At,
Speaker 1: duke AND i Watched coming And i'm, LIKE i wouldn't
Speaker 1: Trust coming in a playoff series IF i needed, HIM
Speaker 1: i just. Wouldn't AND i think key to me is
Speaker 1: the classic domestic player, issue which is we all know he's, long,
Speaker 1: athletic he works, Hard he's gotten, better SO i know
Speaker 1: it's don a work ethic Thing. Jason he, gets he
Speaker 1: gets incrementally better every. Year what is he as a?
Speaker 1: Player CAN i trust him in a big series Against,
Speaker 1: okay seeing IF i can trust him to do?
Speaker 3: WHAT i don't trust. HIM i don't think The warriors trust.
Speaker 3: HIM i think he's gonna GET i think he's gonna
Speaker 3: get some dnps when we get into the. POSTSEASON i
Speaker 3: think that's on the. TABLE i don't think he'll be
Speaker 3: like a game one. THING i think they'll throw him
Speaker 3: out there and see how he, does because he has
Speaker 3: enough of an athletic upside to, where, LIKE i, mean
Speaker 3: you could throw him out there In game one in
Speaker 3: a late first quarter stretch and he could get eight
Speaker 3: points in three. Minutes you, Know like he's got quite short.
Speaker 3: Upside SO i THINK i Think Steve kerr will try.
Speaker 3: Him BUT i think there's a chance that you, see
Speaker 3: like a game four series two to, One Golden state
Speaker 3: needs one that you get A dnp from, Commandity.
Speaker 2: Jason it's year. Four you can't have.
Speaker 3: That on one, LEVEL i feel bad for him because
Speaker 3: two weeks before the trade, deadline it looked like The
Speaker 3: warriors might not do, anything and it was like here's your, Chance,
Speaker 3: kaminga like we're about to go the other way and
Speaker 3: like move on to the next. Era you're gonna get the,
Speaker 3: Keys you're gonna get all this. Opportunity, nope they make
Speaker 3: The jimmy, trade and to make matters, worse While Jonathan
Speaker 3: kaminga is, out they win a bunch of. Games so
Speaker 3: now it's like we are dead serious championship. Contending steph's
Speaker 3: now saying in pressers like we got these these two,
Speaker 3: years this, year next, year last chance to make all this,
Speaker 3: happen and suddenly it goes from it was the perfect
Speaker 3: situation For kamana to learn how to play to this
Speaker 3: is now the worst possible situation because part of The
Speaker 3: Jimmy butler trade was clearing out the. Rotation The warriors
Speaker 3: had like fifteen dudes they could. Play now they have
Speaker 3: ten or. Eleven and so as a result of, that
Speaker 3: like all these crystallized roles, appeared Like Gary payton And Brandon.
Speaker 3: Pajemski is that two next To steph Or Moses moody
Speaker 3: as the guy who's taken on The wigans role of
Speaker 3: guarding the other team's best players spotting up in the.
Speaker 3: Corner kaminga has immediately when he came, back had a
Speaker 3: zero percent chance of Taking moody starting. Spot moody was
Speaker 3: crushing in that. Role they weren't gonna move. It so
Speaker 3: now it becomes you've got to be a bench player
Speaker 3: in this context on this. Team and to your point
Speaker 3: about his, traits he does have an elite, trait which,
Speaker 3: is if he gets a, runway he is a truly
Speaker 3: transcendently great athlete at the. Rim there is a certain
Speaker 3: amount of big picture potential for him as like AN
Speaker 3: iso post player because some guys can't keep him in.
Speaker 3: Front he's good at getting to the foul. Line there
Speaker 3: are a couple things that he does well that project
Speaker 3: for him when he's like twenty seven to twenty eight
Speaker 3: to thirty whatever result to be a decent, player but
Speaker 3: in this, team on This warrior's, team Alongside, Steph draymond And,
Speaker 3: jimmy you have to be elite at one of two
Speaker 3: things to be able to be on the floor with,
Speaker 3: them shooting the basketball or playing read and, react like
Speaker 3: mental processing of the. Game, yeah and he's terrible at,
Speaker 3: both and that's a death sentence for him in this particular.
Speaker 3: Environment so he basically gets to be like every other
Speaker 3: ninth or tenth man in a playoff, rotation which is
Speaker 3: we're going to toss you out there early in the
Speaker 3: series and see if you've got a couple matchups you
Speaker 3: can capitalize. On but if, not we're punting on, you
Speaker 3: and it's going to. Be for, instance LIKE i Think
Speaker 3: Steve kerr would trust A GhIE santos as a forward
Speaker 3: who will knock down and, shots make reads in the,
Speaker 3: offense play defense and. REBOUND i think he trusts him
Speaker 3: more in a big spot than he DOES.
Speaker 1: Kaminga, yeah with international players you sense very early what
Speaker 1: they're very good. At they usually come in they're very good,
Speaker 1: shooters ball handlers and.
Speaker 2: Passers you.
Speaker 1: Know, defensively it's real hit and miss with international. Players,
Speaker 1: frankly it's hit and miss with. Everybody, defensively some guys
Speaker 1: just young are great at, yeah great, early yeah and.
Speaker 1: So BUT i Watched kaming AND i think he is
Speaker 1: a part of THE aau domestic, issue which, is, yeah he's, long, twitchy.
Speaker 1: Athletic you give, him you give him a little space
Speaker 1: driving to the. Rim it's a poster just get out
Speaker 1: of the. Way but that team has so many defined.
Speaker 1: PLAYERS i, Mean i'll Give POD's. Credit when he came,
Speaker 1: IN i knew immediately what he did he'd been in
Speaker 1: college ENOUGH i knew immediately what he. Was i'm sitting
Speaker 1: here here FOUR i think it is with coming And i'm,
Speaker 1: like you don't have a stock. MOVE i don't really
Speaker 1: know what you. Are AND i think you documented it,
Speaker 1: well like the two things they. Demand you, know D'Angelo
Speaker 1: russell's another guy in that. System like he just didn't
Speaker 1: read and react. Well it was, like, yeah too, scurely
Speaker 1: this isn't gonna work at. All so that, SYSTEM i
Speaker 1: think you. Know and you see this a lot of
Speaker 1: times in THE nfl where there are certain. Systems they
Speaker 1: ask a lot of their players like if you can't adapt,
Speaker 1: quickly they're not real. Patient New england was that, Way
Speaker 1: like they gave you about a.
Speaker 2: Year in the.
Speaker 1: System by year, two they're not playing. Around if you
Speaker 1: can't figure out some of the offensive stuff With, tom
Speaker 1: they Just tom wouldn't throw you the. Ball and it
Speaker 1: was over year, two trade.
Speaker 2: Deadline it was.
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Speaker 1: SEASON i think The lakers.
Speaker 2: Have what is, it eight games, left eight or nine
Speaker 2: games left in the regular.
Speaker 1: Season lebron obviously has come back off the growing. Tweak
Speaker 1: he's there feels like it's it's he's just kind of
Speaker 1: waiting for the. PLAYOFFS i get. It there was a
Speaker 1: honeymoon period With. LUCA i kind of look at one
Speaker 1: of the things that disappointed me With. Luca not That
Speaker 1: i'm a critic of, it BECAUSE i Think, dallas, though
Speaker 1: is going to be really good next year when everybody's.
Speaker 1: HEALTHY i really like their center. ROTATION i just think
Speaker 1: they have now they need another shot, initiator another shot
Speaker 1: creator Beyond. Kyrie it kind of feels like they're a
Speaker 1: little light. There but When lebron, LEFT Jj reddick and
Speaker 1: a couple of different occasions, said, yeah we just didn't
Speaker 1: communicate at, All AND i was, like you never hear
Speaker 1: that When lebron plays, like.
Speaker 2: You never ever hear.
Speaker 1: That AND i and as much AS i Like, LUCA
Speaker 1: i understand scoring is the key to the. Game but
Speaker 1: if we sort of because his. Game he was so
Speaker 1: brilliant early and he is so great at the most
Speaker 1: aesthetically pleasing part of. Basketball he's not in great. Shape
Speaker 1: he doesn't DEFEND. Jj reddick has made more than one
Speaker 1: comment on lack of. Communication the team got blown out
Speaker 1: several times When lebron was out And luca And austin were.
Speaker 1: Playing they're parts of me that think we've become so
Speaker 1: fascinated by what he can. Do but here's forty year
Speaker 1: Old lebron and he still is the soul of the.
Speaker 1: Team and first of, all it speaks to What lebron's.
Speaker 1: Legacy it's it's insane what he's.
Speaker 2: Doing And i'm.
Speaker 1: Not being a Critical, luca BUT i you, KNOW i
Speaker 1: said when he first got in, here he's a much
Speaker 1: Better Carmelo. Anthony NOW i think he's a better passer Than.
Speaker 1: Carmelo do you look at him with rose colored glasses
Speaker 1: or do you now that you're seeing every minute of his,
Speaker 1: game do you see little holes that frustrate?
Speaker 3: You so you, KNOW i think rooting for a player
Speaker 3: as someone who roots for The lakers is like the
Speaker 3: best way to truly learn about a. Player and it's
Speaker 3: been funny because there have been certain things that have
Speaker 3: been reinforced for me About luca after watching, him and
Speaker 3: then there are certain things That i've changed my perspective
Speaker 3: on in the sense, that LIKE i used to be
Speaker 3: kind of similar to, you WHERE i kind of viewed his,
Speaker 3: heliocentric try to do everything kind of style offensively as
Speaker 3: something that had some. DRAWBACKS i now view that entirely.
Speaker 3: Differently lucas just an incredible offensive, player like just a
Speaker 3: remarkable offensive, player and his ability to consistently compromise the
Speaker 3: defense and generate these wide open catch and shoot situations
Speaker 3: that guys can either drive or shoot out of it
Speaker 3: is truly, remarkable and it's like a. Superpower and it's
Speaker 3: like unlike Anything i've watched from a perimeter player in
Speaker 3: my time covering the. League like his ability to prey
Speaker 3: pressure the rim from the perimeter, relentlessly regardless of the
Speaker 3: type of defender that's on, him regardless of the type of,
Speaker 3: scheme is a. SUPERPOWER i think you're absolutely right That
Speaker 3: lebron is the soul of the. TEAM i think a
Speaker 3: lot of it stems from the fact That luca doesn't
Speaker 3: really have a massive leadership type of, personality which is,
Speaker 3: funny Doesn't it just. Doesn't lebron can fill that. Role to,
Speaker 3: Me lebron is that. Guy AND i thought the biggest
Speaker 3: way you saw that it was on, Defense like When
Speaker 3: lebron went, down the defense cratered just completely. Graded and
Speaker 3: by the, way a good chunk of that initial struggle
Speaker 3: they had When lebron came back was for that. Reason
Speaker 3: lebron came back and you could Tell lebron was not
Speaker 3: quite getting the motor, running you know WHAT i. Mean
Speaker 3: and there's a certain amount of that WHERE i Think
Speaker 3: lebron's like that just tweaked my. Groin these guys need
Speaker 3: me to Be draymond in the, playoffs so it's most
Speaker 3: important for me to get from here To april eighteenth
Speaker 3: in one. Piece AND i think that's the Way lebron's
Speaker 3: looking at. It but there's no doubt That lebron is
Speaker 3: like the personality leader of the, team But luke is the.
Speaker 3: Firepower it's like watching The lakers over the last few,
Speaker 3: years there was just this lack of consistent like when
Speaker 3: you watch one of the best basketball players in the
Speaker 3: world really inflict himself on a. Game it's unlike anything
Speaker 3: you see in sports when you Watch jokic take over a,
Speaker 3: game when you watch Prime lebron take over a, Game
Speaker 3: luca take over a. Game they can one player on
Speaker 3: a court of ten can strangle the game and change it.
Speaker 3: Completely and, Like i've Seen luca do that so many
Speaker 3: times since he's come to THE la that, Like i've
Speaker 3: grown to appreciate That luca's style might look, different but it's. Powerful.
Speaker 3: Unoffereday on, defense he was embarrassingly bad in The celtics.
Speaker 3: Series he's been good at times a lot of times
Speaker 3: with The, lakers but The pacers, game for, instance like
Speaker 3: just wasn't sliding his feet on the ball and just
Speaker 3: gave up drive drive drive To andrenamhard And Tyris alburn
Speaker 3: cost him a game towards down the. Stretch my thing
Speaker 3: With luca is to me that defense piece is a
Speaker 3: prerequisite to him getting to where he wants to. Go,
Speaker 3: LIKE i don't think he'll ever accomplish what he wants
Speaker 3: to accomplish until he ties that piece. Together there's a
Speaker 3: certain level of commitment on that end that he. Needs
Speaker 3: BUT I i having rooted for him over the last
Speaker 3: couple of, months Like i'm a truther when it comes
Speaker 3: to him on the offensive end of the, floor like
Speaker 3: he just is an indomitable force that generates great shots
Speaker 3: every single time down the. Floor when they Beat, indy
Speaker 3: there was a stretch down the end of the game
Speaker 3: Where indy was trying so hard to get a stop
Speaker 3: and they literally couldn't stop The lakers from getting a
Speaker 3: completely uncontested three for a good shooter every single time
Speaker 3: down the. Floor AND i was, like this is. Remarkable
Speaker 3: this is clutch. Time this is they're trying on, defense
Speaker 3: they're game planning on, defense and they literally can't stop
Speaker 3: The lakers from getting a butt, naked wide open, three
Speaker 3: and like, that that to me is just a superpower
Speaker 3: that he. Has not many players in the league can.
Speaker 2: Match you.
Speaker 1: KNOW i want to wrap it with this BECAUSE i
Speaker 1: thought it was a really interesting. TOPIC i Had Rachel nichols,
Speaker 1: on AND i Think Adam silver is a good. COMMISSIONER
Speaker 1: i thought WHEN i had him, ON i thought he
Speaker 1: overreacted a little To Kevin durant to The. Warriors and
Speaker 1: my take, is, Well otani came to The. Dodgers it's
Speaker 1: been great For, otani great for The, dodgers great For,
Speaker 1: fox great for. Baseball people like, trades people like stars
Speaker 1: and big. Brands Harbottom michigan.
Speaker 2: There was no.
Speaker 1: Downside, yeah, Yeah michigan was going to throttle people and
Speaker 1: you'd have more blowouts than The big. Ten so what
Speaker 1: and so they overreacted and they you, know they've now
Speaker 1: created this environment where you, know eight, rooms it's.
Speaker 2: Hard it's, like you. Can't you'll never.
Speaker 1: Duplicate unless you hit on every draft pick for four,
Speaker 1: years you'll never duplicate The celtics.
Speaker 2: Roster, like it's just you.
Speaker 1: Can't you can't have eight good. Players it doesn't work that.
Speaker 1: Way and my take is people like, trades they don't mind.
Speaker 1: Dynasties And Kevin durant was bound to not get along
Speaker 1: With Draymond.
Speaker 2: Green so it wasn't going to be an eight year.
Speaker 2: Run it was three.
Speaker 1: Years they wore each other, outs it Was shaq And.
Speaker 1: Kobe it was bound not to work.
Speaker 2: Forever But.
Speaker 1: I've talked about this, before is that there are certain unsolvable.
Speaker 1: Things you can go to a. THERAPIST i can go
Speaker 1: to a. Therapist there's a basic foundational PERSONALITY i have
Speaker 1: based on my childhood that you're not going to. CHANGE
Speaker 1: i can get, better BUT i am WHAT i am and,
Speaker 1: saying you, know change is hard when you want help
Speaker 1: and want to, change it's impossible if you. Don't so
Speaker 1: we are kind of at our core sort of what we.
Speaker 1: Are AND i think there are certain things you can't
Speaker 1: get away from the violence in football OR. Ufc you
Speaker 1: can't get away from the lack of urgency in, baseball
Speaker 1: AND i don't think you can avoid tanking because and
Speaker 1: the reason being is because in, basketball and this is
Speaker 1: not true with other. Sports in, basketball you could identify
Speaker 1: at thirteen years Old Kobe Lebron. Wemby The spurs went
Speaker 1: on a three year mission to Get. Wemby they saw
Speaker 1: that that's that's not the way it.
Speaker 2: Works in.
Speaker 1: Football Lamar, jackson we were arguing after he was, drafted
Speaker 1: can he play? Quarterback you, Know mahomes couldn't win in.
Speaker 1: College Josh allen is overrated and wild in basketball men and.
Speaker 1: Women freshman year in high, school it's defined that player
Speaker 1: is different That yukon girl that dominates sixth grade. Basketball it's, like,
Speaker 1: oh that's the best sixth grade basketball player we've ever.
Speaker 1: Seen so and my take is basketball the ability to
Speaker 1: spot transformational talent so. Early it's not a singular year.
Speaker 1: Tank people see. It they don't have to re sign,
Speaker 1: players they can move off players that THE nba should
Speaker 1: just Be, like, listen if if there's a great player
Speaker 1: every year and a different team gets the great, player
Speaker 1: it's unavoidable and it's not terrible for the. League Like
Speaker 1: Cooper flag probably Save. CHARLOTTE i mean, literally if he goes,
Speaker 1: there it's, like, okay, Now LaMelo, Ball Cooper, fly that's,
Speaker 1: Watch like that's a watch on. Television my take is
Speaker 1: THE nba spends so much time paralyzed by tanking and.
Speaker 1: Trades it's like football. Violens just just do the best you.
Speaker 2: Can you can't avoid. It what say? You?
Speaker 3: YEAH i LIKE i like that you you say it's
Speaker 3: an unavoidable piece of. It i'd say the same thing
Speaker 3: about the super teams and the willingness of players to
Speaker 3: try to partner up in a one team becoming so
Speaker 3: powerful that they present a talent mismatch to everyone in.
Speaker 3: League to your point About, boston like this is POST
Speaker 3: kd And. Steph it happened, again and you know how it.
Speaker 3: Happened the league at large Undervalued Drew holiday and chrisops
Speaker 3: porzingis that's not On Brad. Stevens that's Not Brad stevens'.
Speaker 3: Fault that's the other twenty nine GM's fault that they were,
Speaker 3: like Sure brad wants to pay For Chris tops let.
Speaker 3: Him well, okay well now he's a. Problem, Okay so
Speaker 3: it's like now they have five thirty million dollars. Players
Speaker 3: AND i also just generally think, that, LIKE i mean
Speaker 3: to your point that there's there's five six teams this
Speaker 3: year that have a really good chance to, win even
Speaker 3: With boston being the way that they, Are so, LIKE
Speaker 3: i don't THINK i think it makes for interesting storylines
Speaker 3: as far as the tanking piece. Goes it's even more
Speaker 3: unavoidable when you factor in just basic, stuff which is,
Speaker 3: like if it's games sixty five and we don't have
Speaker 3: a chance to make it to the, PLAYOFFS i shouldn't
Speaker 3: be playing my. VETS i should be playing my young.
Speaker 3: Players so different than if you're, like, hey you know,
Speaker 3: WHAT i don't need to See Andy dalton start in week.
Speaker 3: Fifteen i'd rather see my third round pick get a
Speaker 3: chance to go out there and see what he can.
Speaker 3: Do let him get the, reps let him learn how to,
Speaker 3: play and so at a certain, point like even if
Speaker 3: you disincentivized it through the, draft you would never be
Speaker 3: able to stop a team from looking at the situation and,
Speaker 3: going this season's, over we need to give our young
Speaker 3: guys the, keys and that's going to lead to a
Speaker 3: lesser basketball. PRODUCT i would say that generally, speaking the
Speaker 3: basketball guys will reward the teams and the franchises that
Speaker 3: play serious, basketball meaning like you'll See okac did this
Speaker 3: a couple of years, ago where it's like they're playing
Speaker 3: their younger, players they're load Managing, shay but they're also
Speaker 3: teaching those kids to play damn good.
Speaker 2: Basketball, Hey chicago right now is Playing that is a.
Speaker 3: Foundation What chicago is doing right now is a foundational
Speaker 3: part to any hope they have of being good in the.
Speaker 3: Future if you practice playing bad, basketball you'll be a
Speaker 3: bad basketball. Team and so the WAY i look at
Speaker 3: it is, like to your, point you'll never be able
Speaker 3: to stop tanking because it's it's impossible to stop teams
Speaker 3: from even prioritizing younger players. Minutes but, inevitably organizations behaving
Speaker 3: like losers tend to remain. Losers in organizations like here
Speaker 3: go The kings. Again they had that one. Season but
Speaker 3: it's like it turns out that even a really good
Speaker 3: year From Dearreon fox and uh and From Malik monk
Speaker 3: and From Demonas sabonis is not enough to overcome organizational. Incompetence,
Speaker 3: like at the end of the, day you can't stop
Speaker 3: bad from being, Bad so stop trying to legislate it.
Speaker 3: Out if that makes.
Speaker 1: Sense, YEAH i MEAN i look at teams Like utah
Speaker 1: AND i know their record isn't, good BUT i love THEIR.
Speaker 1: GM i think they have an excellent young coach and
Speaker 1: they play. Hard, yeah and they're just gonna get better
Speaker 1: with all those draft. Picks they're probably three years Behind. Oka,
Speaker 1: see so if they Land Cooper, flag AND i think
Speaker 1: they have the best percentage now they're. Tied If utah
Speaker 1: Got Cooper, flag that's a playoff team potentially in a
Speaker 1: year like that's a really good basketball team, obviously If
Speaker 1: wemby got him In San. Antonio but it's LIKE i
Speaker 1: look at it AND i think If washington Got Cooper,
Speaker 1: FLAG i feel so bad For Cooper. Flag If utah
Speaker 1: Got Cooper, flag to your, Point i'd be like that
Speaker 1: kid hit a home.
Speaker 2: Run he's gonna do, really really. Well no immediate.
Speaker 1: Pressure Danny, ainge great young, coach nice little supporting. Players
Speaker 1: they just.
Speaker 2: Don't have a guy For kessler.
Speaker 3: Too he'd be so.
Speaker 1: Good, Yeah Walker kessler is really a nice. Player in,
Speaker 1: fact The lakers were interested in.
Speaker 3: Him if they would have got, HIM i would have
Speaker 3: been talking very reckless on your Show.
Speaker 2: College he's a good, player all.
Speaker 1: Right Jason timpf hoops. Tonight good fifty minutes of basketball.
Speaker 1: Talk thanks, buddy.
Speaker 3: It was good to see. You until next.
Speaker 2: Time the volume