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Call eight eight eight seven eight 26 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:17,560 Speaker 1: nine seven seven seven seven or visit. 27 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 2: CCPG dot org. 28 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casino and Resort 29 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:25,680 Speaker 1: in Kansas twenty one plus. Age and eligibility varies by 30 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: jurisdiction void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire one hundred and 31 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional terms and responsible 32 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:36,640 Speaker 1: gaming resources, see dkang dot co. Slash b ball. 33 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 2: All right, welcome to hoops tonight. You're at the volume. 34 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 1: Happy Tuesday, everybody, Oh ball, if you guys are having 35 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 1: a great week. We have finally made it back to 36 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: the NBA Cup. Weird floors, allegedly a different game ball, 37 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: all sorts of weird st going on, but we are 38 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: back to the tent pole in the middle of the 39 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: season to make things a little different. Throughout the NBA 40 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: regular season. Obviously lots of games to get to tonight, 41 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 1: but we're going to focus on the two TNT games. 42 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 1: The first game, Joel Embiid's return for the Philadelphia seventy 43 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:17,520 Speaker 1: six Ers looked good at times, look sloppy at times. 44 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:19,639 Speaker 1: Some stuff to get excited about if you're a Sixers fans. 45 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: Some other stuff that's discouraging. The Knicks having one of 46 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 1: their sharper defensive performances of the season as they get 47 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 1: a big win, and then the Golden State Warriors and 48 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:31,080 Speaker 1: the nightcap fall down by seven late to the Dallas Mavericks. 49 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: And another game that was wildly back and forth as 50 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:36,960 Speaker 1: the Golden State Warriors going another rundown. The stratch Steph 51 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 1: Currage is absolutely amazing as they pull that one out. 52 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:41,640 Speaker 1: We're going to break down both games from the perspective 53 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 1: of both teams. I also have kind of a bigger 54 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 1: picture thought surrounding some of the change in the ways 55 00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 1: that teams like the Knicks and the Cavs have been 56 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:52,520 Speaker 1: playing offense. Jampack Show for you guys tonight. You guys 57 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,079 Speaker 1: know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the 58 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:57,639 Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight YouTube channels, So you guys don't miss any 59 00:02:57,680 --> 00:02:59,560 Speaker 1: more of more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter 60 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 1: at under score Jason lt so you guys don't miss 61 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 1: show announcements. So forget about a podcast feed wherever you 62 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:06,400 Speaker 1: get your podcast under Hoops tonight, and then keep dropping 63 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:08,359 Speaker 1: mail bag questions in the YouTube comments. We're gonna be 64 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:11,640 Speaker 1: doing a long mail bag on the Friday show. We're 65 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: actually recording that on Thursday, so make sure you guys 66 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: drop some questions in the YouTube comments. All right, let's 67 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:18,760 Speaker 1: talk some basketball. So this Warriors MAVs game had a 68 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 1: really interesting flow to it. 69 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:20,400 Speaker 2: You know. 70 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: One of the things if if you're trying to nitpick 71 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:26,639 Speaker 1: the Golden State Warriors roster, which I actually think has 72 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: been a I think we got to start having a 73 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,960 Speaker 1: serious conversation about Steve Kerr as the early favorite for 74 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: Coach of the Year, and then maybe have a conversation 75 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: about the job that the Warriors front office has done 76 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:42,840 Speaker 1: assembling this roster, because without a ton of top end 77 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: talent like what you see around the rest of the league, 78 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: they're having a ton of success by building a roster 79 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: and a game plan on both ends of the floor 80 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: around a very specific trait that is thriving in the 81 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: modern MBA, and that is speed, speed and transition, speed, 82 00:03:57,160 --> 00:04:00,880 Speaker 1: covering ground on offense, speed covering ground on defense, speed, getting. 83 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 2: To loose balls. 84 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 1: Everything that comes from just having waves in waves of speed. 85 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 1: But if you had to nitpick the Warriors roster, the 86 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 1: one thing is that they don't have another guy like 87 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 1: Steph that you can reliably count on to get you 88 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: an efficient twenty plus on any given night. And so 89 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 1: this game was kind of interesting because there were stretches 90 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: where the Warriors offense kind of bogged down a little bit, 91 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: and then Luca and Kyrie and Clay, who were all 92 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:31,040 Speaker 1: fantastic tonight, kind of started to methodically out execute them 93 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:33,359 Speaker 1: in the half court. And you'd see Luca use a 94 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:35,919 Speaker 1: ball screen to get Andrew Wiggins in a trail position 95 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: so he can just kind of work down the lane 96 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:40,040 Speaker 1: line and shoot some sort of bank shot. 97 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:42,200 Speaker 2: Off the glass or draw a foul or Kyrie. 98 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:45,440 Speaker 1: Kyrie's just having one of the most ridiculous shot making 99 00:04:45,520 --> 00:04:47,800 Speaker 1: seasons that I've seen in a long time. His game 100 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: against the Nuggets the other night was completely absurd, just 101 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: the degree of difficulty in the shots that he was hitting. 102 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:55,720 Speaker 1: He's just on a crazy run He was incredible in 103 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 1: the fourth quarter of this game as well, and then 104 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,360 Speaker 1: Luca kept burning more this moodie for helping too much 105 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 1: into the lane on skip passes, and Klay Thompson is 106 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: just benefiting off of the chaos, right, benefiting off of 107 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: the additional bodies that get thrown towards Luca, benefiting on 108 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:13,800 Speaker 1: those skip passes, benefiting on transition chaos. He had a 109 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: big three on the right wing in transition. So like 110 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,720 Speaker 1: as the Warriors offense would bog down, the MAVs would 111 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: kind of chip away, chip away, and they go on 112 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,359 Speaker 1: their runs. But then as soon as the Warriors started 113 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:26,680 Speaker 1: to execute on offense and hit a couple shots, they'd 114 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:28,839 Speaker 1: set their defense and then they have all this speed 115 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:31,280 Speaker 1: and they have all these waves of athleticism and they 116 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:33,360 Speaker 1: can get into the ball. Andrew Wiggins again, like this 117 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 1: is the type of player two that like six ' 118 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:39,359 Speaker 1: eight rangey wing that typically has struggled with Luca. But 119 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:42,760 Speaker 1: the difference is Andrew's a bit bigger and stronger than 120 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:44,920 Speaker 1: people realize. He's bigger and stronger than say, like a 121 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,360 Speaker 1: Jaden McDaniels, for instance, and so on those bumps when 122 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 1: he's bumping Luca, he's holding his ground a little better, 123 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:54,599 Speaker 1: He's knocking Luca off of his base a little bit more, 124 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: and it just causes him to have a little bit 125 00:05:56,480 --> 00:05:58,880 Speaker 1: more of an effect. And then Draymond Green is just 126 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:01,479 Speaker 1: this is the story of the tire Warriors roster, this 127 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: ability to erase mistakes, right. I talk about their closeouts 128 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:07,080 Speaker 1: all the time. They fly around on the perimeter using 129 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: their speed. But Draymond is one of the best players 130 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: in the league at being two places at once, and 131 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: he had two big stops on Daniel Gaffer down the 132 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:17,159 Speaker 1: stretch of this game where he was up higher in 133 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: help and was able to recover to one of the 134 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:22,320 Speaker 1: better rim finishers in the league underneath the basket to 135 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:24,480 Speaker 1: get stops, and then they would get stops and then 136 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: they would start going in transition. And that was kind 137 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: of like the back and forth of this game. When 138 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: the Warriors were scoring, they were setting their defense, they 139 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:34,040 Speaker 1: were getting stops, they were running in transition, and then 140 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 1: every single time things kind of bogged down for them, 141 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 1: the MAVs were able to kind of chisel away, and 142 00:06:38,440 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 1: that's how you ended up with those wild, kind of 143 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:44,040 Speaker 1: oscillating leads throughout the game. I thought Steph was completely 144 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 1: amazing in this game. He had a big run in 145 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: the third quarter. It's the Steph Curry classic problem. Right like, 146 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,240 Speaker 1: he comes off the ball screen Derek Lively sitting too 147 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:54,720 Speaker 1: far back. He hits the pull up three comes off 148 00:06:54,720 --> 00:06:57,280 Speaker 1: the same ball screen a couple possessions later. This time 149 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 1: Lively shows super high, just floats the little pass over 150 00:07:00,360 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: the top to trace Jackson Davis, and he rolls to 151 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:04,720 Speaker 1: the rim. The MAVs went on that big run in 152 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,880 Speaker 1: the middle late third, and then Steph again in the 153 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:10,720 Speaker 1: late third, made a couple of huge plays down the stretch. 154 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: He hit that bank shot, the driving bank shot along 155 00:07:13,880 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: the right side, and then in transition, you know, when 156 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: he starts dancing with the ball above the break, guys 157 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:20,800 Speaker 1: start staring at him and they lose sight of what's 158 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: happening on the backside. He had that whip left handed 159 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: fee to Jonathan Kaminga for a layup. Like every single 160 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:29,760 Speaker 1: time the MAVs went on one of their runs, Steph 161 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 1: was able to stabilize them with this unbelievable, elite, top 162 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: tier offense, and that, to me, is the most exciting 163 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: piece of what we've seen over the course of the 164 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: last week, Right, Like, if you go back to last 165 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 1: season and some of the stuff that Steph was dealing 166 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: with and the slump that he was in, and then 167 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: you come into this offseason and some of the kind 168 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:52,040 Speaker 1: of it just kind of seemed like there was a 169 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:55,560 Speaker 1: pessimistic attitude surrounding the Warriors coming into the season. And 170 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:57,320 Speaker 1: I'm guilty of that as well. I'm not going to 171 00:07:57,360 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 1: sit here and pretend like I wasn't. But like, we 172 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: get into this season and all these things start to 173 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: look good, right, they start to look deep. They start 174 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:05,400 Speaker 1: to look like, oh wait, we might have hit on 175 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: this Buddy Healed signing. You know, the Antony Melton thing 176 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 1: is working. Johnathan Kaminga is embracing events roll, everyone seems 177 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: really bought into their roles. Oh man, we have thirteen 178 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: players that can reasonably play in the rotation. And the 179 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 1: one thing that was kind of the biggest question mark 180 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:22,640 Speaker 1: is they were succeeding in that first couple weeks of 181 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:26,720 Speaker 1: the season without really getting anything substantial out of Steph, 182 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:29,400 Speaker 1: not because of his fault. They were blowing out teams 183 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: and then he got hurt, right, But the most exciting 184 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: thing about this last week and a half or so 185 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:38,680 Speaker 1: is Steph went into Boston and outplayed Jason Tatum and 186 00:08:38,679 --> 00:08:41,240 Speaker 1: looked like the best player on the floor. Steph goes 187 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 1: into Oklahoma City and outplays shake Vis Alexander looks like 188 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,040 Speaker 1: the best player on the floor. Steph in this game 189 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: once again, time and time again, whenever it looked like 190 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:53,880 Speaker 1: things were teetering for Golden State, he was able to 191 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:59,240 Speaker 1: leverage his top tier superstar capabilities to regain control of 192 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:02,120 Speaker 1: the situation. That is that final piece that you're looking 193 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:05,559 Speaker 1: for if you're a Warriors fan for real optimism, which 194 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:09,080 Speaker 1: is can Steph get back to that level? And he 195 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 1: was unbelievable down the stretch of this game. I felt 196 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:14,319 Speaker 1: silly on Twitter. I was complaining because he had got 197 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:16,240 Speaker 1: Luca on a switch and he like toasted him off 198 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:18,400 Speaker 1: the dribble and made a little scoop shot, and then 199 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:21,280 Speaker 1: I was like, man, like, Luca just cannot guard this guy. 200 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:25,680 Speaker 1: Why are they continually trying to screen with Draymond to 201 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: get I think it was lively back on to Steph 202 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:30,719 Speaker 1: when he's already got Luca on him, and then he 203 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:32,840 Speaker 1: ends up hitting a crazy step back three over the 204 00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:34,800 Speaker 1: center as well. So it's like I guess there's just 205 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:36,800 Speaker 1: nothing you can do about it. But again, that's what 206 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:41,040 Speaker 1: sets Steph apart. You know that if you want to 207 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:44,320 Speaker 1: get into the big picture, like those offensive lolls, those 208 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:46,200 Speaker 1: are things that are going to be somewhat part of 209 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:48,719 Speaker 1: the deal when you've got a roster that doesn't necessarily 210 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 1: have as much offensive firepower as you see around the 211 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:53,559 Speaker 1: rest of the league. But one of the things that 212 00:09:53,840 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 1: I've always been a staunch believer in is like, even 213 00:09:56,679 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 1: for the best offenses in the league, there are lolls lolls. 214 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,800 Speaker 1: You know, sometimes jump shots just don't go in. Sometimes 215 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:06,240 Speaker 1: you run quality offense and you throw a kickout pass 216 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:08,080 Speaker 1: to a good shooter who's in a catch and shoot 217 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:10,440 Speaker 1: situation and he misses. And then you go down the 218 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:12,080 Speaker 1: floor and you run a drop coverage and a guy 219 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:13,960 Speaker 1: comes off of a ball screen and hits a contested 220 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:17,040 Speaker 1: pull up three. Like, there's a certain amount of out 221 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:20,240 Speaker 1: of your control that takes place on the offensive end 222 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:22,960 Speaker 1: of the floor because of the make and miss element, right, 223 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:25,760 Speaker 1: But there's so much that you can control. And that's 224 00:10:25,800 --> 00:10:28,200 Speaker 1: where the Warriors have been so especially sharp this year. 225 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,280 Speaker 1: They are so sharp in their attention to detail on 226 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:33,560 Speaker 1: the defensive end of the floor that even when they 227 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:38,880 Speaker 1: go through these struggles, it's like, yeah, the MAVs were 228 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:40,840 Speaker 1: going on runs, but they were going on runs through 229 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: tough shot making. They were going on runs through the 230 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:46,480 Speaker 1: kinds of shots that the Warriors were trying to give 231 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:49,120 Speaker 1: up as part of their defensive scheme, And like that, 232 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 1: to me is the really exciting part. And who knows 233 00:10:50,800 --> 00:10:52,360 Speaker 1: what this all looks like in the big picture in 234 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 1: terms of whether or not the Warriors make some sort 235 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:57,200 Speaker 1: of consolidation move to try to bring in additional firepower, 236 00:10:57,320 --> 00:10:59,960 Speaker 1: or if maybe Andrew Wiggins continues to pop and John 237 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:03,040 Speaker 1: Kamika continues to pop and Buddy Heel continues to pop 238 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 1: and they make an internal decision that they don't need 239 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:08,040 Speaker 1: to do that. But the most important piece was this 240 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:11,120 Speaker 1: team wasn't going anywhere without Steph Curry playing like a 241 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:16,280 Speaker 1: top tier superstar and three times against legitimate championship contending 242 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:19,240 Speaker 1: teams in the league, he looked like the best player 243 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 1: on the floor, And that, to me is like the 244 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 1: the the cherry on top of this wonderful start to 245 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:26,920 Speaker 1: the season for the Golden State Warriors. 246 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:27,560 Speaker 2: I think. 247 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 1: I think a couple other guys I wanted to shout 248 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:33,040 Speaker 1: out again, Draymond Green. I thought he defensively at the 249 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:34,720 Speaker 1: tail end of this game, just made some plays that 250 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:36,840 Speaker 1: he's one of the only people in the entire world 251 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:39,840 Speaker 1: that can make. He had ah the one with Daniel 252 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:41,840 Speaker 1: Gafford on the double pump. He had actually met him 253 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:44,439 Speaker 1: up high with the other hand and then Daniel brought 254 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 1: it down and right when he exposed it, Draymond saw 255 00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:49,640 Speaker 1: an opportunity to jump in there and swipe it away. 256 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 1: Brandon Pitzemski he had a late third quarter run that 257 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:55,480 Speaker 1: I thought was pretty important. And again this was during 258 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:57,680 Speaker 1: a stretch of the game when when Dallas was starting 259 00:11:57,679 --> 00:12:02,480 Speaker 1: to kind of gain some control, and he had a 260 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:04,320 Speaker 1: big three, like a little step back three in a 261 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:06,800 Speaker 1: ball screen. That's a huge shot in that situation. And 262 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 1: then on the next possession, he got Derek Lively on 263 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:11,920 Speaker 1: a switch and beat him off the dribble and he 264 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:13,679 Speaker 1: just got a shot up on the glass. But when 265 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:16,400 Speaker 1: he got the shot up on the glass, Lively was 266 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:18,560 Speaker 1: chasing him and it allowed Kevon Looney to kind of 267 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:22,160 Speaker 1: fill the gap in behind him and get an offensive 268 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:25,200 Speaker 1: rebound put back. And so like those are those little things, 269 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 1: just a little play here and there like oh buddy, Heal, 270 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:30,280 Speaker 1: just a nice little left to right crossover for a 271 00:12:30,360 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 1: driving layup in crunch time like those, that's like found 272 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:36,400 Speaker 1: money in a game like this, especially for a team 273 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 1: that relies so much on their defensive activity to try 274 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:41,040 Speaker 1: to drive their success. 275 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:41,400 Speaker 2: Again. 276 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:44,440 Speaker 1: I can't say enough about the job that Steve Kerr 277 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:46,840 Speaker 1: has done with this group. I can't say enough about, 278 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:50,439 Speaker 1: like how much this success for the Warriors has changed 279 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:53,480 Speaker 1: my outlook in terms of, like the way teams need 280 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:56,520 Speaker 1: to be building their rosters. You have to be fast. 281 00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:59,199 Speaker 1: Twenty percent of these games, damn near is being played 282 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,480 Speaker 1: in transition. Everyone is spaced out. It's turning into drive 283 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: and kick. It is about chasing guys off the three 284 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:08,000 Speaker 1: point line, covering ground in rotation, long rebounds coming off 285 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: the back of the rim that are going eighteen nineteen 286 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:12,720 Speaker 1: feet from the basket, and they're turning into foot races 287 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:16,199 Speaker 1: to go get the basketball. It is constant activity, constant 288 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:20,160 Speaker 1: motion that is beating teams in the NBA right now, 289 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:22,640 Speaker 1: and this success that the Warriors are having should be 290 00:13:22,679 --> 00:13:26,440 Speaker 1: incredibly informative to all of us about the direction that 291 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:30,199 Speaker 1: the game of basketball is going on. The MAVs front 292 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:33,640 Speaker 1: a couple of different things. There's a lot to be 293 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:36,640 Speaker 1: discouraged about with this start to the season, but there 294 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:39,200 Speaker 1: were a lot of different variables, right Derek Lively missed 295 00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:42,199 Speaker 1: several games. PJ Washington missed several games. Luca I went 296 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:47,160 Speaker 1: over some stats yesterday. Luca is down statistically in every 297 00:13:47,200 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 1: single category. Its points are down, rebounds are down, assists 298 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:51,839 Speaker 1: or down, steals are down, blocks are down. Field go 299 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:54,080 Speaker 1: percentage is down, three point percentages down, getting to the 300 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:57,960 Speaker 1: line less, he's getting making free throws less frequently. He's 301 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:01,000 Speaker 1: his pick and roll play making is down. His post 302 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:03,720 Speaker 1: up in ISO, points per possession are down. Like everything's 303 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:06,520 Speaker 1: down across the board, and that, to me is an 304 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:09,280 Speaker 1: encouraging thing if you're a Dallas fan. Because obviously, like 305 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:12,240 Speaker 1: Luca missed training camp, we're gonna talk about Joel Embiid 306 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:14,079 Speaker 1: here in a little bit. He didn't look like Joel 307 00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:16,120 Speaker 1: Embiid today. You know why, because it's tough to get 308 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:19,160 Speaker 1: back up to the speed of playing NBA basketball. I 309 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: thought tonight was the first game this season where Lucas 310 00:14:22,680 --> 00:14:24,560 Speaker 1: started to look more like Luca, and I know that 311 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:26,840 Speaker 1: he wore down in that second half but in that 312 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:28,960 Speaker 1: first half in particular, you started to see him get 313 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:31,120 Speaker 1: a little more comfortable with that step back three, and 314 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:32,560 Speaker 1: then you started to see a lot of the stuff 315 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: that we saw during the playoff run, the methodical body 316 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:39,240 Speaker 1: positioning stuff, getting defenders into trail position, working in that 317 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:42,680 Speaker 1: short to mid range. We got to see the element 318 00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 1: that we've all been looking for this entire season, which 319 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:48,240 Speaker 1: is like just what it looks like when Klay Thompson 320 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:51,600 Speaker 1: has to be accounted for. Again, like when you are 321 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:54,120 Speaker 1: defending Luca in ball screens and you have to put 322 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:56,040 Speaker 1: two on the ball or defend the action three on 323 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 1: two if they position with their spacing properly so that 324 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:01,520 Speaker 1: the guy that's bagging the roller is coming off of 325 00:15:01,600 --> 00:15:04,240 Speaker 1: Klay Thompson, which ended up being like Moses Moody down 326 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:07,840 Speaker 1: the stretch, there's going to be opportunities there for Clay 327 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:10,480 Speaker 1: and I thought he missed one another one where where 328 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:12,680 Speaker 1: I think it was Andrew Wiggins like threw a crazy 329 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 1: close out at him late and he pump faked, and 330 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:16,800 Speaker 1: he got another good look there that goes in. It 331 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:18,880 Speaker 1: could be a very different game. And so like, even 332 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:21,120 Speaker 1: though there's a lot to be discouraged about to me, 333 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:23,920 Speaker 1: there's things that are trending in the right direction. Luca 334 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:26,200 Speaker 1: I thought today played one of his better games of 335 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:28,200 Speaker 1: the season in terms of just how he looked in 336 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:32,040 Speaker 1: control of the situation. And then Kyrie's playing just some 337 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 1: of the best basketball of his career. I don't even 338 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 1: know what to say about that. You could see the 339 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:40,119 Speaker 1: Klay Thompson fit being so natural. They had great stretches 340 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: tonight of defense where they went on runs where they 341 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 1: really strangled that Golden State offense. So there is positive 342 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:51,320 Speaker 1: there are positive trends that are taking place within this journey. 343 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:54,240 Speaker 1: And again, you can't play too much on the results, right, 344 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 1: Like in terms of the big picture of the eighty 345 00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: two game regular season, you played a game well enough 346 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:01,800 Speaker 1: to be up seven with three four minutes left, right, 347 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:04,600 Speaker 1: and obviously you went cold down the stretch Steph Curry, 348 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: Steph Curried you. That can happen, But there's some positive 349 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: progress in that game that you can take into the 350 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: next game. So big time win for the Golden State 351 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:17,080 Speaker 1: Warriors here to start the NBA Cup. We'll get a 352 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 1: little bit further into both of these teams later in 353 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:33,680 Speaker 1: the week when we get into our film session. On Thursday, 354 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:38,520 Speaker 1: moving on to the Knicks and the Sixers, And before 355 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:40,480 Speaker 1: we get too much further into this game, I want 356 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:42,720 Speaker 1: to kind of dive into that big picture topic. I 357 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:45,320 Speaker 1: was talking about it as it pertains the offensive variety. 358 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:48,160 Speaker 1: So what I think is really fascinating is these two 359 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:50,080 Speaker 1: teams have changed the way they've played in a lot 360 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:53,040 Speaker 1: of ways, the Knicks through changes in their roster and 361 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: the Calves through a change in the head coaching job. 362 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: Right So with the Calves, all of a sudden, we're 363 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:01,880 Speaker 1: seeing a lot more use out of Darius Garland. We're 364 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 1: seeing a lot more usage out of Evan Evan Mobley 365 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:07,000 Speaker 1: doing a lot of work at the beginning of possessions 366 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:08,720 Speaker 1: to get the defense in rotation. And one of the 367 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:11,600 Speaker 1: things we're seeing is Donovan Mitchell's scoring volume is down 368 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:14,439 Speaker 1: substantially from where it was last year. Right now, the 369 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:16,840 Speaker 1: Knicks did it through a roster change, but by bringing 370 00:17:16,880 --> 00:17:19,639 Speaker 1: in Michale Bridges, bringing Karl Anthony Towns, oh Jan Andobe 371 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:22,560 Speaker 1: at the tail end of last year, we've seen a 372 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:26,320 Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson scoring volume take a dip. Now, both players 373 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:29,720 Speaker 1: have maintained at their efficiency, but their volume has taken 374 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:33,560 Speaker 1: a dip. Interestingly enough, we even saw Jalen Brunson say 375 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:36,000 Speaker 1: that he doesn't think he's playing particularly well. And I 376 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:38,439 Speaker 1: understand that because there's obviously another level that he can 377 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:41,600 Speaker 1: get to, that he's capable of scoring more efficiently and 378 00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:45,000 Speaker 1: at higher volume. But here's the thing. The Knicks and 379 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:48,840 Speaker 1: the Cavs are both top five offenses this year. Last 380 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:52,040 Speaker 1: year they were not. And this comes down to a 381 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: concept that I've been harping on NonStop since the NBA 382 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 1: Finals last year between the MAVs and the Celtics, which is, yes, 383 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: there is a certain there's a certain machine that works 384 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:05,400 Speaker 1: when you lean into the individual greatness of one player, right, 385 00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:09,679 Speaker 1: they get into great rhythm, they have unwavering confidence. You 386 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 1: can spam actions and attack matchups, and you can get 387 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:15,080 Speaker 1: success out of that. But what happens is when you 388 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:17,160 Speaker 1: get into the playoffs, you have to win four playoffs 389 00:18:17,160 --> 00:18:20,399 Speaker 1: series against typically four very different types of defenses, and 390 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:23,440 Speaker 1: your advantage is change from series to series. Same goes 391 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:25,560 Speaker 1: during the regular season. You're playing eighty two games, your 392 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:30,959 Speaker 1: advantages change from game to game, right, and in those situations, 393 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:35,479 Speaker 1: variety allows you to have a higher floor in all 394 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:37,080 Speaker 1: of those situations in addition. 395 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:37,600 Speaker 2: To a higher ceiling. 396 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 1: Right, because guess what, like on one given night, it 397 00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:43,720 Speaker 1: might be that, you know, Donovan Mitchell has a really 398 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:46,200 Speaker 1: tough guard on him, but Darius Garland has a lesser 399 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:49,639 Speaker 1: guard on him. Right, it might be a game where 400 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:51,920 Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson has a really tough guard on him, but 401 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: Michale Bridges has a really favorable matchup. Teams run out 402 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:57,960 Speaker 1: of bodies tonight was a perfect example. In the Sixers game. 403 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,040 Speaker 1: There were large portions of the game where we had 404 00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:03,359 Speaker 1: there were large portions of the game where we had 405 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:08,719 Speaker 1: Og and Obi being guarded by Gershan Yabuselli, and like 406 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:12,520 Speaker 1: that's a huge foot speed disadvantage. And we had three 407 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:16,800 Speaker 1: really big mistakes in the run that the Knicks went 408 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:18,720 Speaker 1: on when they went from being up two to up fourteen, 409 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:23,280 Speaker 1: where it was like Yabaseli misses a mid range jump 410 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:25,879 Speaker 1: shot around the elbow and it's like just kick ahead 411 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:28,960 Speaker 1: pass and Ogn and Obi's getting a dunk. And then 412 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:34,040 Speaker 1: here's Yabuselli closing out on Og at the top of 413 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:35,840 Speaker 1: the key and he just toasts him off the dribble. 414 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:37,680 Speaker 1: Now they're in rotation, they give up a wide open 415 00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:42,120 Speaker 1: corner three or the one the baseline dunk that Og 416 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 1: and Andobi had. All that was was literally gwershon Yabuselli 417 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:50,800 Speaker 1: like sitting in help swing pass. Og just ripped to 418 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:54,200 Speaker 1: the baseline, toasted him off the dribble and got a dunk. 419 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:57,800 Speaker 1: When you lean into the depth of talent on your roster, 420 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:01,480 Speaker 1: when you keep everybody involved, when you play equal opportunity. 421 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 1: When you have that variety, you can do a better 422 00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:07,840 Speaker 1: job of capitalizing on the weak points in the opponent's defense. 423 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:11,920 Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense to repeatedly go at Andrew Wiggins 424 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: every single time down the floor. Ideally, you want to 425 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 1: try to generate advantage situations for your best player, and 426 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:20,400 Speaker 1: the best way to do that is get the ball 427 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:24,080 Speaker 1: moving side to side to run multiple actions. Not to mention, 428 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:27,320 Speaker 1: the more actions and interchanges you run on any given possession, 429 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:29,280 Speaker 1: the more potential there is for a defense to make 430 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:32,359 Speaker 1: a mistake. Sometimes you'll get just a wide open layup 431 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:34,760 Speaker 1: or wide up and dunk or wide open shot just 432 00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:37,320 Speaker 1: simply because the first guy did his job, the second 433 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 1: guy did his job, the third guy did his job, 434 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:41,320 Speaker 1: and then the fourth guy was caught not paying attention. 435 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:45,399 Speaker 2: Or they bought a switch or a guy overhelps, right. 436 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:47,959 Speaker 1: I mean, like like the Klay Thompson three that they 437 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:51,840 Speaker 1: gave up in crunch time on the skip pass, Moses 438 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:53,359 Speaker 1: Moody was too far in the lane. It was a 439 00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:57,000 Speaker 1: defensive mistake, right like that, Like you, the more action 440 00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:59,520 Speaker 1: you run, the more interchange, the more side to side, 441 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:02,800 Speaker 1: the more opportunity for mistakes, the more variety, the more 442 00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:05,720 Speaker 1: equal opportunity, the more opportunity for you to capitalize on 443 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:09,400 Speaker 1: different mismatches. I don't think it's a coincidence that Donovan 444 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:12,760 Speaker 1: Mitchell and Jalen Brunson's scoring volume are both down, but 445 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:14,960 Speaker 1: the Knicks and the Cavs are both scoring at a 446 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:19,359 Speaker 1: much more effective rate overall as a team this season. 447 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:22,880 Speaker 1: I think that's a really fascinating concept on the Knicks front. 448 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:25,040 Speaker 1: For this particular game, it was kind of cool to 449 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:27,400 Speaker 1: see them start winning on the margins again. Like they've 450 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 1: been such an elite offense to start this year. Karl 451 00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:32,040 Speaker 1: Anthony Towns has been so good. We're going to talk 452 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:33,560 Speaker 1: about him in a little bit more detail here in 453 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:35,600 Speaker 1: a second, but like part of what made the Knicks 454 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:37,680 Speaker 1: great last year was they won on the margins. They 455 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:40,440 Speaker 1: could go on defensive runs. They had a great defensive 456 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:42,920 Speaker 1: game tonight. They haven't had many of those this season. 457 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:44,800 Speaker 1: There's been a handful. They did it to the Pacers 458 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:47,160 Speaker 1: earlier this year, Like they have moments, but they haven't 459 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:49,680 Speaker 1: been as consistently good defensively as they need to be. 460 00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:53,160 Speaker 1: Tonight was a really strong defensive performance for them. They 461 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,240 Speaker 1: dominating the offensive glass has always been a substantial part 462 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 1: of their identity, and like I think they only I 463 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:03,680 Speaker 1: think they the Sixers and Knicks relatively even on the 464 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:06,360 Speaker 1: offensive glass. But in the first half, the Knicks did 465 00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:08,080 Speaker 1: a bunch of damage on the offensive glass. I think 466 00:22:08,119 --> 00:22:11,080 Speaker 1: that's seven offensive rebounds just in the first half. The 467 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:13,639 Speaker 1: pushing in transition, and part of this is like a 468 00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:15,680 Speaker 1: weakness of Philly, which we'll talk about in a minute, 469 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:18,359 Speaker 1: but the Nicks scored twenty eight points in transition in 470 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:21,879 Speaker 1: this game, compared to only eleven for Philly. And so again, 471 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:24,920 Speaker 1: like this is where there's the half court battle, which 472 00:22:24,960 --> 00:22:26,440 Speaker 1: is going to come down a lot to the roster. 473 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:29,600 Speaker 1: It's gonna come down a lot to execution and those 474 00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:32,639 Speaker 1: kinds of details. But on the margins, you increase your 475 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:36,840 Speaker 1: chances of winning by building margin in the small areas 476 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:40,919 Speaker 1: on the ancillary parts of the game, winning the possession battle, 477 00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 1: winning the battle in transition again, like leveraging those things 478 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:47,639 Speaker 1: like we talked about earlier that are not dependent on 479 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:50,639 Speaker 1: shot results, that are things that you can consistently rely 480 00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:54,520 Speaker 1: on on a night in night out basis Karl Anthony 481 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:58,800 Speaker 1: Towns Front. You know, it's fascinating because there's like some 482 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:01,639 Speaker 1: real basic stuff he does that makes things a lot easier, 483 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,560 Speaker 1: like with his shooting ability, Like he's trailing the play 484 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: in transition, and centers just have a instinctual behavior which 485 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:11,880 Speaker 1: is when they run back and transition defense, they don't 486 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:13,639 Speaker 1: think about the three point line. They think about the 487 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:17,200 Speaker 1: paint right and Kat, you know, burned Embiid tonight on 488 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:19,240 Speaker 1: a transition three where he just ran up the floor 489 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:22,880 Speaker 1: and Embiid's first few steps took him into the well 490 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:24,919 Speaker 1: inside the arc and Cat just kind of was trailing 491 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,480 Speaker 1: the play and he knocked it down. There's popping in 492 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:29,399 Speaker 1: ball screens, which has been a huge part of the 493 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,160 Speaker 1: Knicks offense to start this year. There was a really 494 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,840 Speaker 1: interesting strategy we saw from Nick Nurse tonight where he 495 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:38,359 Speaker 1: actually just had Joel Embiid stay home on Cat on 496 00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:40,719 Speaker 1: ball screens and then they offered help, you know how 497 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:42,919 Speaker 1: like usually they run a drop coverage right where the 498 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:45,280 Speaker 1: ball handler comes off the screen and it's the big 499 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:47,840 Speaker 1: man that's waiting to kind of corral things. They were 500 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:51,480 Speaker 1: just having embiid as they put sometimes and offering help 501 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:53,880 Speaker 1: off the ball, which then of course got them into 502 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:56,119 Speaker 1: rotation and then the Knicks were able to drive and 503 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: kick on them. But that's the problem that Karl Anthony towns. 504 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:03,760 Speaker 1: That's the offensive ceiling that can come from having spacing 505 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:06,439 Speaker 1: from the five position. And so there's a lot of 506 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: great that Kat does right with the shooting and the 507 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:12,600 Speaker 1: driving closeouts and all that stuff that we just talked about. 508 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:14,560 Speaker 1: But the other thing I wanted to touch base on 509 00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:18,320 Speaker 1: was this action that we've been seeing all the way 510 00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:21,080 Speaker 1: around the league, and I think it's actually a really 511 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:23,480 Speaker 1: smart example of just like how teams kind of copy 512 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:26,000 Speaker 1: each other and you see kind of like different concepts 513 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:27,400 Speaker 1: grow a bigger. 514 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:28,679 Speaker 2: Foothold around the league. 515 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:30,760 Speaker 1: But this thing that we're seeing where these teams are 516 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:32,320 Speaker 1: putting their centers at the top of the key with 517 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:34,840 Speaker 1: the ball and then having guards cutting off of them, 518 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 1: there's a lot of opportunity to get open shots like that, 519 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:39,919 Speaker 1: and the Knicks are doing it too, where they're just 520 00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:42,119 Speaker 1: putting Kat at the top of the key, and it's like, 521 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,119 Speaker 1: let's just have you know, Deuce McBride run over and 522 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:47,479 Speaker 1: set a screen for bruntson and then have Brunson just 523 00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:51,200 Speaker 1: sprint off of Kat's shoulder, and then as brunts and sprints, 524 00:24:51,240 --> 00:24:53,720 Speaker 1: just have Cat kind of pivot into the defender's space 525 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 1: and just flow to pass over the top and he 526 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:57,880 Speaker 1: can get a catch and now he's got dribble penetration 527 00:24:57,960 --> 00:24:59,520 Speaker 1: the defenses in rotation. It kind of goes to the 528 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:03,000 Speaker 1: stuff we were talking about earlier, like teams just make mistakes, 529 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:05,800 Speaker 1: Like it's a simple set of reeds that comes out 530 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:06,080 Speaker 1: of that. 531 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:06,400 Speaker 2: Right. 532 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 1: If Kat's at the top of the key and Brunson 533 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:12,680 Speaker 1: is chasing or cutting off of him, if the guard 534 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:15,960 Speaker 1: goes under the pick, then Kat just pitches the ball 535 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,080 Speaker 1: to Brunson and he shoots a wide open three. If 536 00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:20,520 Speaker 1: the guard chases over the pick and Kat throws the 537 00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:23,320 Speaker 1: pass over the top, now you basically have no choice 538 00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:25,080 Speaker 1: but to either help out of one of the corners, 539 00:25:25,119 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 1: which is going to leave a wide open kickout pass 540 00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:30,080 Speaker 1: to the corner, or you're leaving that one on one 541 00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:32,800 Speaker 1: with Brunson with the defender trailing him, and he's just 542 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:34,800 Speaker 1: so good at either finishing or doing you know what 543 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:36,560 Speaker 1: he did to Embiid. I thought it was hilarious on 544 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:40,200 Speaker 1: the play when Embiid got the crowd going and then 545 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:42,680 Speaker 1: Brunson just toasted him off the dribble and then got 546 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 1: him with the grift. Those two, it was kind of 547 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:47,400 Speaker 1: funny to watch their little back and forth because they're 548 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:49,040 Speaker 1: two of the biggest grifters in the league. And I've 549 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:50,760 Speaker 1: said this on the show before. I don't have a 550 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:53,879 Speaker 1: problem with the players grifting. To me, that's a problem 551 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:55,159 Speaker 1: with the league. You got to take that up with 552 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 1: the league. They're just competitors that are trying to take 553 00:25:57,600 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: advantage of every single advantage they can get to try 554 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:04,440 Speaker 1: to win games. Moving on to the six ers for 555 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:07,439 Speaker 1: a second, you know, the Joel Andbiid looked exactly how 556 00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,040 Speaker 1: I expected him to look like. He looks sloppy, he 557 00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:12,320 Speaker 1: looked out of rhythm. It looked like the game was 558 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:14,440 Speaker 1: moving really fast for him. I thought stan Van Gundhi 559 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:16,600 Speaker 1: did a really nice job on the broadcast of breaking 560 00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:19,359 Speaker 1: down how like, no matter how much you play behind 561 00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:22,959 Speaker 1: the scenes, no matter how much you no matter how 562 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:25,679 Speaker 1: much you uh run on the track or run on 563 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:29,720 Speaker 1: the treadmill or do conditioning work behind the scenes, there's 564 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:33,880 Speaker 1: nothing that can actually replicate a basketball game, and there's 565 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:38,280 Speaker 1: nothing that can actually replicate urgency. Like I kind of 566 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:40,600 Speaker 1: felt it a little bit tonight in the NBA Cup, 567 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:42,960 Speaker 1: and I felt it a lot in opening week when 568 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,040 Speaker 1: teams are playing their first like one to two games, 569 00:26:45,119 --> 00:26:48,520 Speaker 1: like when there's real intensity and teams are kind of 570 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:52,080 Speaker 1: like viewing the game as more valuable than a typical 571 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:55,520 Speaker 1: regular season night, and you see that intensity come out. 572 00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:57,840 Speaker 2: It it it it's difficult. 573 00:26:57,880 --> 00:27:00,879 Speaker 1: The game gets tough, right, It moves very very fast, 574 00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:03,320 Speaker 1: and so for Joel and b to step into a 575 00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:07,520 Speaker 1: game when he hasn't been playing, and it's a particularly 576 00:27:07,560 --> 00:27:10,880 Speaker 1: intense type of game in the in the n Season 577 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:13,040 Speaker 1: Tournament again, a Knicks team that's off to a disappointing 578 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 1: start that really wants to win that game, not just 579 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:17,560 Speaker 1: for the n Season Tournament but for their own regular 580 00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:21,000 Speaker 1: season outlook right like it was intense. He looked a 581 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:23,000 Speaker 1: little out of shape, he looked a little out of rhythm. 582 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:25,960 Speaker 1: That to me was to be expected. I'm not paying 583 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:28,720 Speaker 1: too much attention to that. Paul George, for instance, is 584 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:31,440 Speaker 1: in the same boat, but he's just further along, right, 585 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,360 Speaker 1: first few games, like that the game where he hijacked 586 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:37,879 Speaker 1: the late possessions and took the step back three at 587 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:40,080 Speaker 1: the top of the key, when Tyre s Maxy was going, 588 00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: like he was not shooting the ball well in that 589 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:45,280 Speaker 1: stretch right in that first game. In his first few 590 00:27:45,280 --> 00:27:47,679 Speaker 1: games tonight, you could see like starting to get his 591 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,080 Speaker 1: legs underneath them a little bit, starting to get more 592 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,480 Speaker 1: lyft on his three point shots, starting to look more 593 00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:55,960 Speaker 1: comfortable from the perimeter, right, Like it's a rhythm thing. 594 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,399 Speaker 1: You're building momentum over the course of the season. But 595 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:01,639 Speaker 1: I'm I'm finding it. I'm finding it hard to be 596 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:05,280 Speaker 1: too critical of the Sixers because of the way their 597 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:08,760 Speaker 1: roster is built. The roster is built around three stars. 598 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:11,920 Speaker 1: They don't have any other players on the roster that 599 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:15,399 Speaker 1: make more than ten million dollars a year, right, And Like, 600 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:18,960 Speaker 1: what that tells you is in the in the market 601 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:21,680 Speaker 1: of these players and what they are worth, you have 602 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:23,960 Speaker 1: a lot of guys that are going to be flawed 603 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,159 Speaker 1: because they are tail end of the roster players that 604 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,080 Speaker 1: you're signing at heavily discounted deals because you have three 605 00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:32,880 Speaker 1: MAX players right, when you do it this way, when 606 00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:34,720 Speaker 1: you do it through free agency, and when you sign 607 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:37,760 Speaker 1: a player outright, like the way they did with Paul George, 608 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: there's a certain amount of limitation that's going to come 609 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:41,520 Speaker 1: with that. I thought the big thing that stood out 610 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 1: tonight is like when Tyrese Maxey is out the on 611 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:49,640 Speaker 1: ball guard play for the Sixers falls off of a cliff. Right, 612 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:52,800 Speaker 1: it's Jared McCain, who we're going to talk about it, 613 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:55,160 Speaker 1: who's shown a lot of exciting stuff over the last 614 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:57,240 Speaker 1: couple of games. But then after that, it's like there's 615 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:01,880 Speaker 1: Kyle Lowry, who's certainly on the tail end of his 616 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: journey in the NBA, a lot of like Jeff Doughton 617 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:07,560 Speaker 1: on the ball tonight, and it's like I'm watching this 618 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,320 Speaker 1: and I'm like, this is a big, intense NBA game. 619 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:13,320 Speaker 1: We're on one side. All the action is being run 620 00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:17,000 Speaker 1: by Jalen Brunson and McHale Bridges and og Nobi and 621 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:19,680 Speaker 1: Karl Anthony Towns and Duce McBride and these like pretty 622 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:22,600 Speaker 1: high level players. And then there's Jeff Doughton who's running 623 00:29:22,640 --> 00:29:26,200 Speaker 1: the offense for the Sixers for significant stretches of the game, right, 624 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:29,000 Speaker 1: But like that's to be expected because when your roster's 625 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:32,920 Speaker 1: built around three stars and any of the stars are out, 626 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:36,640 Speaker 1: you're going to struggle because the players have their flies 627 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:38,440 Speaker 1: like they have athletes, Right, This is a team that 628 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:42,280 Speaker 1: has athletes like Kelly Ubra is an athlete, Caleb Martin 629 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:45,960 Speaker 1: is an athlete, but they are discounted athletes because they 630 00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:49,520 Speaker 1: can't shoot right and they have their offensive limitations. Right, 631 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:51,600 Speaker 1: there are other players on the team that can shoot 632 00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:54,760 Speaker 1: the ball but have different limitations, like where Shawn Yabaseli 633 00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:57,520 Speaker 1: right and yabasel He's actually been pretty good for the 634 00:29:57,520 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 1: most part this season. The Sixers have actually been way 635 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:01,920 Speaker 1: better with him on the floor versus off But he 636 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:06,959 Speaker 1: is an offensive minded big who can really struggle in 637 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:10,160 Speaker 1: space defensively, right, So, like on a night like tonight 638 00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,000 Speaker 1: where he goes one for seven from the field with 639 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:15,920 Speaker 1: zero system three turnovers, then his limitations on the defensive 640 00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:18,440 Speaker 1: end and in transition rise to the surface in a 641 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:20,800 Speaker 1: way that they don't when he's hitting shots. But that's 642 00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:23,240 Speaker 1: the thing, Like when you're shopping in that market, you're 643 00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:25,600 Speaker 1: gonna get a lot of one way players, right, Guys 644 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:27,520 Speaker 1: that are really good at some things but then have 645 00:30:27,640 --> 00:30:30,719 Speaker 1: some substantial weaknesses in others. The big thing that stands 646 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:34,160 Speaker 1: out to me is like overall between Drummond, who's looking 647 00:30:34,280 --> 00:30:38,120 Speaker 1: kind of big, Joel Embiid, who has we talked about, 648 00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:40,720 Speaker 1: who's just getting back into things and he's out of shape, 649 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:44,600 Speaker 1: the Gershon Yabuseli piece that we just talked about. Some 650 00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:47,800 Speaker 1: of the guards too, like they're kind of slow, and 651 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:51,360 Speaker 1: that manifests in poor transition defense. Cleaning the Glass has 652 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:54,720 Speaker 1: a catch all transition stat that they use. It's called 653 00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:58,440 Speaker 1: defensive Transition points added per one hundred possessions, and it 654 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,880 Speaker 1: kind of just combines the transition frequency in the transition 655 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:06,480 Speaker 1: efficiency of your transition defense. Right, Cleaning the Glass has 656 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 1: them as the fifth worst transition defense in the league 657 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:11,600 Speaker 1: here in the early part of the season. What's crazy 658 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 1: about that is they've almost always been a bad transition 659 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:17,200 Speaker 1: defense with Joel Embiid, and they were like that without 660 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:19,720 Speaker 1: Joel Embiid to start the year. And so that to 661 00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:22,440 Speaker 1: me is probably the biggest weakness of this particular roster 662 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:24,040 Speaker 1: is you can run on them. There's a lot of 663 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:25,800 Speaker 1: teams in the league that are like that, and those 664 00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:27,959 Speaker 1: teams when they leverage, when they play hard and they 665 00:31:29,280 --> 00:31:31,520 Speaker 1: execute well, especially at home, when they're feeding on the 666 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,440 Speaker 1: home crowd, they can keep things under control athletically and 667 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,240 Speaker 1: then their superior gifts show. But when they lose control 668 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:40,120 Speaker 1: of that kind of athletic battle, that's when they can 669 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,520 Speaker 1: get run off the floor and it can get ugly 670 00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:45,560 Speaker 1: for them pretty quick. But in terms of like a 671 00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:50,120 Speaker 1: silver lining, again, there's an advantage to this type of build, right, 672 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:54,320 Speaker 1: So when you build a roster around three stars and 673 00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:59,200 Speaker 1: they're all healthy and they're on the floor together, then 674 00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 1: you have the ability to craft really small and achievable 675 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:04,720 Speaker 1: roles for. 676 00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:05,600 Speaker 2: Your role players. 677 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,920 Speaker 1: Then suddenly these veteran minimum guys can come in and 678 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,920 Speaker 1: they can thrive. So the key is, and I know 679 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:13,600 Speaker 1: this is what we've been saying all season. I was 680 00:32:13,600 --> 00:32:15,400 Speaker 1: actually pretty high on the Sixers coming in. I think 681 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,360 Speaker 1: I had him at six in my contender rankings coming 682 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:20,680 Speaker 1: into the season. And the reason why is like, when 683 00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:23,760 Speaker 1: they're healthy, it's like if they're in rhythm, and it's 684 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:26,720 Speaker 1: like we got Joel Embiie, you know, a perennial MVP candidate, 685 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:29,960 Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxey, who I had dranked, is what the twenty third, 686 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,160 Speaker 1: twenty fourth best player, and I think I had him 687 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,600 Speaker 1: twenty first. Actually I have him in the top twenty 688 00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:37,520 Speaker 1: five players in the NBA. I'm a huge Tyrese Maxi fan. 689 00:32:37,560 --> 00:32:40,720 Speaker 1: And then Paul George as your third best player. You 690 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:44,680 Speaker 1: can't really do much better than that, right, and so's 691 00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:46,880 Speaker 1: there is a version of this that works. It just 692 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:50,560 Speaker 1: requires them all being healthy on the floor together, playing 693 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,760 Speaker 1: to their individual ceilings so that you can craft these 694 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:56,120 Speaker 1: small and achievable roles. One last note on the sixers. 695 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:58,280 Speaker 1: I want to talk about Jared McCain for a second. 696 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:00,400 Speaker 1: Is so he's had a couple of good games in 697 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:02,840 Speaker 1: a row now, and the big thing that stands out 698 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:06,640 Speaker 1: to me is he's got a strong low center of gravity, 699 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:10,760 Speaker 1: and so when he's constantly running around, guys actually have 700 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,480 Speaker 1: a hard time bumping him off of his line, which 701 00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:17,760 Speaker 1: allows him to get real dribble penetration. And he's constant motion, 702 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:21,440 Speaker 1: really attacking downhill in these ball screens, and he's kind 703 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:24,160 Speaker 1: of snaking along the baseline and making kickout reads. He's 704 00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:29,720 Speaker 1: got a natural gift for identifying where relocation opportunities are, 705 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:32,920 Speaker 1: so He's always moving around and getting himself open. Shots 706 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:34,719 Speaker 1: like this to me is like half the battle of 707 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:37,920 Speaker 1: being a shooter. Battle number one is knocked down the 708 00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:41,640 Speaker 1: damn shot, but battle number two is getting yourself open 709 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:43,880 Speaker 1: against good defenses, and most of that comes down to 710 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:48,520 Speaker 1: perpetual motion. And like Jared McCain just brings perpetual motion 711 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,120 Speaker 1: to the guard spot with aggressive shooting. And again, just 712 00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:55,240 Speaker 1: like a good strong base, he competed on the defensive 713 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:59,440 Speaker 1: end tonight as well. I was impressed watching Jared McCain 714 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:01,640 Speaker 1: here in the early going this season. They're gonna need 715 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:04,520 Speaker 1: a lot out of him over this stretch that Tyrese 716 00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:20,480 Speaker 1: Maxi is out, all right, So guys, we're gonna do 717 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:22,600 Speaker 1: a couple of mail back questions here for about ten minutes. 718 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:25,160 Speaker 1: So if you got any drop him in the chat. Paul's 719 00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:26,680 Speaker 1: texting him to me. We'll get to some questions and 720 00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:32,960 Speaker 1: we'll get out of here for the night. If the 721 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:35,640 Speaker 1: playoffs started today, how many players are you taking over 722 00:34:35,640 --> 00:34:40,520 Speaker 1: Steph Curry? That is a very good question. I think 723 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:42,600 Speaker 1: I would take Jokics for sure. I think he's on 724 00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:45,600 Speaker 1: a I think he's on just like one of the 725 00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:50,600 Speaker 1: special tears in NBA history, Luca, I think I'd take 726 00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:53,040 Speaker 1: over him. Luca is better than he's shown in the 727 00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:55,319 Speaker 1: early going this season. He missed training camp. That's gonna 728 00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:57,799 Speaker 1: take him a little while to get going. Giannis is 729 00:34:57,800 --> 00:35:01,160 Speaker 1: playing some crazy good basketball this year too. I think 730 00:35:01,239 --> 00:35:03,879 Speaker 1: I think i'd probably put him at five. I think 731 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:09,160 Speaker 1: that the top tier that that Shay Giannis, Luka Jokic 732 00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:11,439 Speaker 1: tier is pretty is pretty great. 733 00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:12,239 Speaker 2: The thing. 734 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:14,200 Speaker 1: The thing with Steph is like at this point in 735 00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:18,560 Speaker 1: his career, he's just not quite as he's not quite 736 00:35:18,640 --> 00:35:21,640 Speaker 1: as athletically capable as he was when he was younger. 737 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,560 Speaker 1: But to me, like, it's not it's it's irrelevant to 738 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,880 Speaker 1: me because can Steph at least get to that level 739 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:30,040 Speaker 1: in a way where if we were in a series 740 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:33,360 Speaker 1: and STEP's the best player for your team and Luca 741 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:34,759 Speaker 1: is the best player for the other team, do I 742 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:36,880 Speaker 1: think it's going to be some gigantic gap that the 743 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:40,400 Speaker 1: Warriors can't overcome. No, But that's where I keep talking about, 744 00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:44,879 Speaker 1: Like in terms of the upside in cooling assets and 745 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:47,719 Speaker 1: making a consolidation trade is like you don't want to 746 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:49,799 Speaker 1: bring a knife to a gunfight. You don't want to 747 00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:53,040 Speaker 1: find yourself in a series where you're down three to 748 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:56,200 Speaker 1: two after five games and Steph's averaging thirty three and 749 00:35:56,239 --> 00:35:58,520 Speaker 1: no one else on the Warriors is averaging more than twelve, 750 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:02,640 Speaker 1: and Kyrie's averaging twenty five, Clays averaging twenty and Luca's 751 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:04,720 Speaker 1: averaging twenty seven. Like, you don't want to find yourself 752 00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:09,320 Speaker 1: in a situation where Steph has the responsibility of creating 753 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:12,800 Speaker 1: every big bucket in every big moment in a series. 754 00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:14,839 Speaker 1: And like, again, it was I want to be clear 755 00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:17,040 Speaker 1: about the twenty twenty two season. There's a couple different things. 756 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:19,200 Speaker 1: Steph was younger and a little more athletic back then. 757 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:22,040 Speaker 1: That was the best season of Andrew Wiggins's career. But 758 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:24,560 Speaker 1: another big part of it, guys, was twenty twenty two 759 00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:27,200 Speaker 1: was a little bit of a gap year around the league. 760 00:36:27,239 --> 00:36:30,240 Speaker 1: There wasn't a lot of like there was the Boston 761 00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:33,120 Speaker 1: Celtics were not the Boston Celtics that we think of 762 00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:35,480 Speaker 1: them ass right, Like if you look through the Western 763 00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:37,640 Speaker 1: Conference that year, there was a lot of good teams, 764 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:41,000 Speaker 1: but there were like there wasn't like great teams like 765 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:42,560 Speaker 1: some of the teams that we have at the top 766 00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:45,360 Speaker 1: of the West this year. That's not to take anything 767 00:36:45,360 --> 00:36:49,000 Speaker 1: away from the championship. It's just this this year has 768 00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:53,359 Speaker 1: one of the deepest fields of really great teams that 769 00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:56,279 Speaker 1: I've seen in a long time, and so it's a 770 00:36:56,320 --> 00:36:59,239 Speaker 1: lot to ask for Steph to kind of go at 771 00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:03,080 Speaker 1: that sort of thing solo for four rounds against teams 772 00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:06,359 Speaker 1: that are gonna have multiple, you know, high level shot 773 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:08,319 Speaker 1: creators that could that they that they can rely on. 774 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:10,319 Speaker 1: That's the specific reason why I've been harping on that. 775 00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:12,560 Speaker 1: But again, you know, wait till February and you see 776 00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:16,160 Speaker 1: what happens. Because there is development here with Jonathan Kaminga. 777 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:18,359 Speaker 1: We don't know what version of Wiggans we're gonna get 778 00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:20,520 Speaker 1: in the large sample. We don't know what John We 779 00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:23,399 Speaker 1: don't know what Buddy Healed can do over the course 780 00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:25,719 Speaker 1: of the large sample either, And so like just we'll 781 00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:27,200 Speaker 1: give it some time and then when you get to 782 00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:29,319 Speaker 1: February you make a call at that point. But like 783 00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:32,399 Speaker 1: to me, I would like to see Steph flanked by 784 00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:34,840 Speaker 1: an efficient, consistent twenty plus point per game. 785 00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:36,640 Speaker 2: Score, preferably in the front court. 786 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:39,640 Speaker 1: And when you look at everything else that this team 787 00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:42,200 Speaker 1: has going for it, I think at that point it's 788 00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:43,640 Speaker 1: it's worth the investment. 789 00:37:45,120 --> 00:37:46,279 Speaker 2: All right, let's see here. 790 00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:50,640 Speaker 1: Next question, are you more or less confident in the 791 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:54,319 Speaker 1: Celtics winning the East than at the start of the season. So, 792 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:57,560 Speaker 1: you know, it's interesting the I came into the year. 793 00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:02,120 Speaker 1: I did a recording about an hour with Carter Rodriguez 794 00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:05,759 Speaker 1: from the Chase Down podcast earlier today. That's airing first 795 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:08,000 Speaker 1: thing tomorrow morning, so you guys will see it. But 796 00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:11,439 Speaker 1: I was talking with him about how going into the year, 797 00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:14,200 Speaker 1: I saw this like clear top four in the East, right, 798 00:38:14,239 --> 00:38:17,680 Speaker 1: you know, Boston, you know, New York, and then Milwaukee 799 00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:21,000 Speaker 1: and Philly, right and now after that, like I kind 800 00:38:21,040 --> 00:38:24,080 Speaker 1: of view Cleveland as the clear number two, although the 801 00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:25,879 Speaker 1: Knicks to me, are a team that's still a work 802 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:27,600 Speaker 1: in progress and who knows what they'll look like in 803 00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:31,240 Speaker 1: a few months. But like I can't, I can't decide 804 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:33,960 Speaker 1: yet how I feel about Cleveland in the large sample, 805 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:38,160 Speaker 1: because like, part of what's made Cleveland's so good is 806 00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:41,759 Speaker 1: Darius Garland and Evan Mobley are just playing a lot 807 00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:45,320 Speaker 1: better than they did last year. And it's been twelve games, 808 00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:48,600 Speaker 1: and so like, if we're forty five games into this 809 00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:52,200 Speaker 1: thing and the Calves still look like the Calves and they're, 810 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:55,279 Speaker 1: you know, hanging with the Celtics at the top of 811 00:38:55,320 --> 00:38:58,080 Speaker 1: the league, and Evan Mobley and Darius Garland are still hooping, 812 00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:01,239 Speaker 1: then we need to recalibrate whether are not like that 813 00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:04,080 Speaker 1: roster is just a lot better than we originally anticipated. 814 00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:05,880 Speaker 1: Right then it can get a little bit more difficult. 815 00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:08,560 Speaker 1: But like right now, it's like I feel more or 816 00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:11,799 Speaker 1: less the same because Philly and Milwaukee have fallen off 817 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:14,560 Speaker 1: a map, but Cleveland's kind of retaken that one of 818 00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:16,400 Speaker 1: those spots, and the Knicks to me, are still like 819 00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:19,440 Speaker 1: a team that's figuring things out and could still be interesting. 820 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:22,640 Speaker 1: For the record, the Celtics, I am not worried about 821 00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:24,920 Speaker 1: them at all. There's nothing I've seen from them that 822 00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:27,560 Speaker 1: has changed my opinion about them. Like, here's a crazy 823 00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:30,200 Speaker 1: stat for you. The Celtics are yet to win a 824 00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:32,560 Speaker 1: single game this year against a team that is over 825 00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:35,000 Speaker 1: five hundred and I could care less. To me, there's 826 00:39:35,000 --> 00:39:38,160 Speaker 1: still just a rock solid championship favorite. Like it just 827 00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:40,840 Speaker 1: that I would need to see so much more to 828 00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:42,680 Speaker 1: change my mind. But I haven't seen anything that's made 829 00:39:42,719 --> 00:39:45,040 Speaker 1: me feel more or less confident, to be honest, because 830 00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:49,239 Speaker 1: of the rise of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Who is your 831 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:54,959 Speaker 1: top dark horse contender? I I would say Golden State. 832 00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:58,239 Speaker 1: I think like when I look at the rosters around 833 00:39:58,280 --> 00:39:59,799 Speaker 1: the league, and you know how much I'm harping on, 834 00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:03,000 Speaker 1: who are the fast teams out there? The teams that 835 00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:05,400 Speaker 1: have just tons and tons of speed on the perimeter, 836 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:09,120 Speaker 1: It's like teams like Oklahoma City, teams like Boston, and 837 00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:12,240 Speaker 1: then there's like after that, there's a lot of good teams, 838 00:40:12,239 --> 00:40:15,120 Speaker 1: but they have different strengths and weaknesses and they don't 839 00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:20,360 Speaker 1: match up super well specifically with what Boston and Oklahoma 840 00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:23,200 Speaker 1: City do. And so like what excites me about Golden 841 00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:25,720 Speaker 1: State is what you saw in the game in Boston. 842 00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:28,759 Speaker 1: They have the ability to cover ground in a way 843 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:31,160 Speaker 1: that is a very nice counter to what Boston does, 844 00:40:31,239 --> 00:40:34,000 Speaker 1: and they're driving kick situations. And I just have seen 845 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:37,440 Speaker 1: Steph Curry now back to back to back, outplay, Luca outplay, 846 00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:40,439 Speaker 1: Shay outplay, Jason Tatum head to head. He just has 847 00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:45,080 Speaker 1: that alpha dog ability to kind of pull these games 848 00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:49,080 Speaker 1: over the top. When their defense and their speed and 849 00:40:49,239 --> 00:40:51,480 Speaker 1: Steve Kerr and everything that makes the Warriors the Warriors 850 00:40:51,719 --> 00:40:53,880 Speaker 1: keeps them close in these games. So in terms of 851 00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:56,399 Speaker 1: dark horse contenders, like a team that is not on 852 00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:59,680 Speaker 1: my contender list, and by the way, my contender list 853 00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:02,359 Speaker 1: right now, I was only too deep. It's Oklahoma City 854 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:04,440 Speaker 1: in Boston right now. But like in terms of a 855 00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:06,480 Speaker 1: team that's not on that tier, that would be like 856 00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:08,239 Speaker 1: a dark horse team to look out for. I'd look 857 00:41:08,239 --> 00:41:09,480 Speaker 1: out for the Warriors, and they have a trade to 858 00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:11,960 Speaker 1: make too, and that's what makes them so interesting. Like, 859 00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:14,840 Speaker 1: for instance, like I was higher on the coming into 860 00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:17,359 Speaker 1: the season, I was higher on the Lakers than I 861 00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:18,320 Speaker 1: was on the Warriors. 862 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:20,320 Speaker 2: And I'm substantially. 863 00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:21,600 Speaker 1: Lower on the Lakers now than I was, even though 864 00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:23,520 Speaker 1: they're six and four and I think they'll go seven 865 00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:26,200 Speaker 1: and four tomorrow night against the Grizzlies, even though they're 866 00:41:26,239 --> 00:41:28,839 Speaker 1: off to a good start this year, I'm lower on 867 00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:32,000 Speaker 1: them because I think they're slow and so like it 868 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:38,160 Speaker 1: would take a pretty substantial trade influence, like with an 869 00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:41,080 Speaker 1: influx of speed for me to really change the way 870 00:41:41,080 --> 00:41:43,400 Speaker 1: that I feel about the Lakers. Do you believe in 871 00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:45,799 Speaker 1: the Lakers or Warriors more to go in a postseason? Well, 872 00:41:45,840 --> 00:41:48,160 Speaker 1: there you go, that's perfect. I just accidentally answered that question. 873 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:50,600 Speaker 1: Right now, it's the Warriors, it's the speed. To me, 874 00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:53,160 Speaker 1: I can't harp on that enough. I'm sure you guys 875 00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:54,560 Speaker 1: who have been listening to my show over the last 876 00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:56,359 Speaker 1: week could probably stick of me saying it. But it's 877 00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:59,000 Speaker 1: just something that I feel very strongly about. Do you 878 00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:02,319 Speaker 1: think the Bucks trade if it gets substantially worse. Yes, 879 00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:04,560 Speaker 1: But I mean they had a good bounce back game 880 00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:07,000 Speaker 1: against the Raptors tonight. They play a really light schedule 881 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:10,440 Speaker 1: over their next ten games. There's like a pretty decent 882 00:42:10,560 --> 00:42:13,759 Speaker 1: chance that they're back over five hundred literally before we 883 00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:16,520 Speaker 1: get to the thirty game mark, just because of how 884 00:42:16,520 --> 00:42:18,680 Speaker 1: weak the schedule is in the Eastern Conference. So, like, 885 00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:20,640 Speaker 1: I think it's too early for that sort of thing. 886 00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:23,279 Speaker 1: But let's be clear, Like if they find themselves dead 887 00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:26,239 Speaker 1: to rights halfway through the season, I think you'd be 888 00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:29,040 Speaker 1: foolish not to consider blowing it up because they're not close. 889 00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:33,080 Speaker 1: So if you're not close and Yannis is like in 890 00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:39,360 Speaker 1: his thirties now and entering into a different phase. Paul 891 00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:42,160 Speaker 1: just sent me a question, says Jason de like teams' speed, 892 00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:48,399 Speaker 1: but like with the Yiannis thing, Like if you get 893 00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:50,520 Speaker 1: to that point and you're not close and Yannis is 894 00:42:50,520 --> 00:42:52,479 Speaker 1: in his thirties and he's moving to a different phase, 895 00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:54,640 Speaker 1: and Dame is in his mid thirties and he's moving 896 00:42:54,719 --> 00:42:56,920 Speaker 1: into a different phase. At a certain point, it's like, 897 00:42:57,680 --> 00:43:00,200 Speaker 1: unless you feel like you can quickly turn around and 898 00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:03,680 Speaker 1: build a contender around Giannis by just absolutely nailing like 899 00:43:03,719 --> 00:43:06,480 Speaker 1: a Dame trade or something like, I mean, maybe that's 900 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:08,680 Speaker 1: what you do. You probably look at trading Dame first, 901 00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:11,879 Speaker 1: and you just see if you can't get like, see 902 00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:13,640 Speaker 1: what your offers look like. And you're probably gonna have 903 00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:16,000 Speaker 1: two different types offers, right, You're gonna have like like 904 00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:18,799 Speaker 1: young player draft pick offers, and then you're gonna have 905 00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:22,560 Speaker 1: like good current player offers with like multiple high level 906 00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:26,520 Speaker 1: role players from a team that can actually spare role players. Right, 907 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:28,600 Speaker 1: But like you have to make that decision based on 908 00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:30,520 Speaker 1: what kind offers are available, and if there's an offer 909 00:43:30,560 --> 00:43:32,960 Speaker 1: for Dame that you think can tweak things and get 910 00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:35,920 Speaker 1: you back into contention with you, honest, you go for 911 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:37,919 Speaker 1: it like that. But I think, yeah, at that point, 912 00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:39,920 Speaker 1: the more likely scenarios that they end up looking at 913 00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:41,719 Speaker 1: a complete blow up. But I think it's way too 914 00:43:41,719 --> 00:43:43,520 Speaker 1: soon for that. We've seen just too many examples of it. 915 00:43:43,560 --> 00:43:46,320 Speaker 1: The Lakers started two and ten two and ten guys, 916 00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:49,440 Speaker 1: with Lebron and ad playing most of the games. They 917 00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:51,840 Speaker 1: started two and ten in the twenty twenty two to 918 00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:53,320 Speaker 1: twenty three season, and they made it to the Western 919 00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:57,320 Speaker 1: Conference finals. So like it is, especially with how dreadfully 920 00:43:57,360 --> 00:43:59,959 Speaker 1: weak the Eastern conferences at the bottom and how many 921 00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:02,240 Speaker 1: easy opponents they have on a night in, night out basis, 922 00:44:02,239 --> 00:44:04,200 Speaker 1: I think it's way too early to write off the Bucks. 923 00:44:04,719 --> 00:44:06,960 Speaker 1: I agree the Warriors can use a consolidation trade, but 924 00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:09,279 Speaker 1: can they do it without Wiggins contract. He's one of 925 00:44:09,320 --> 00:44:11,719 Speaker 1: our most valuable defensive players, and I think they need 926 00:44:11,800 --> 00:44:12,719 Speaker 1: him to go all the way? 927 00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:13,960 Speaker 2: I one hundred percent agree. 928 00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:16,200 Speaker 1: I think I think like if you are getting, if 929 00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:19,560 Speaker 1: you're trading Wiggins, it needs to be a for a 930 00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:20,400 Speaker 1: player that can. 931 00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:21,360 Speaker 2: Start at his position. 932 00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:24,440 Speaker 1: Right, So, like let's say, for instance, you were to 933 00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:28,720 Speaker 1: make a deal for someone like a let's say Brandon Ingram. 934 00:44:28,760 --> 00:44:30,400 Speaker 1: And I'm not even saying that's who they should go for. 935 00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:32,200 Speaker 1: I'm just saying, let's say that's who it is. It 936 00:44:32,239 --> 00:44:34,920 Speaker 1: would have to be someone like that, because to me, 937 00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:37,840 Speaker 1: Wiggins when he gets lots of opportunity and he's with 938 00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:40,120 Speaker 1: the starters and he's engaged in a high level point 939 00:44:40,120 --> 00:44:43,480 Speaker 1: of attack role and he's being aggressive, Like that's when 940 00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:47,480 Speaker 1: it works. He can be a lot like more inconsistent 941 00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:49,360 Speaker 1: if you move him to the bench and it turns 942 00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:52,960 Speaker 1: into like a inconsistent role and his touches are different 943 00:44:52,960 --> 00:44:55,440 Speaker 1: and that sort of thing. So like, like to me, 944 00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:58,200 Speaker 1: I agree, if you're making a trade for a guard, 945 00:44:58,239 --> 00:44:59,839 Speaker 1: or you're making a trade for a big, or your 946 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:03,240 Speaker 1: making a trade for a four, I would not include 947 00:45:03,239 --> 00:45:06,280 Speaker 1: Wikens because I think he's just a rock solid starter 948 00:45:06,719 --> 00:45:08,839 Speaker 1: and I think those are rare enough around the league 949 00:45:08,840 --> 00:45:10,960 Speaker 1: that you shouldn't just give him away for no particular reason. 950 00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:12,919 Speaker 1: But if you have the opportunity to bring in someone 951 00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:14,960 Speaker 1: that plays his position, I think it makes some sense. 952 00:45:15,600 --> 00:45:20,600 Speaker 1: Let's see will the league take harsher steps against load management. 953 00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:23,600 Speaker 1: I think they already have talked about that, like with 954 00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:26,840 Speaker 1: their injury reporting and like guys sitting out national TV 955 00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:28,560 Speaker 1: games and the fines and stuff that are. 956 00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:29,239 Speaker 2: Associated with it. 957 00:45:29,400 --> 00:45:31,000 Speaker 1: I think a lot of guys are just actually getting 958 00:45:31,040 --> 00:45:33,080 Speaker 1: hurt to start this year, and some of that is, 959 00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:34,799 Speaker 1: you know, I've seen a lot of takes like I've 960 00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:36,600 Speaker 1: seen people be like, oh, it's because there's just so 961 00:45:36,719 --> 00:45:39,640 Speaker 1: much more speed, and it's all the ground coverage, and 962 00:45:39,680 --> 00:45:41,720 Speaker 1: you're closing out to the three point line and sprinting 963 00:45:41,760 --> 00:45:43,279 Speaker 1: back to the paint and closing out to the three 964 00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:46,239 Speaker 1: point line again, And this is the reason why that 965 00:45:46,280 --> 00:45:48,200 Speaker 1: people are getting hurt. And my thing is like, it's 966 00:45:48,239 --> 00:45:50,439 Speaker 1: just too soon to know why people are getting hurt. 967 00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:52,279 Speaker 1: None of us actually know, we're all just kind of 968 00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:55,120 Speaker 1: pontificating and so like to me, I think it's also 969 00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:58,120 Speaker 1: possible that in a ten to twelve game sample that 970 00:45:58,200 --> 00:45:59,000 Speaker 1: it's just noise. 971 00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:01,920 Speaker 2: So who the hell knows what's going on on that front. 972 00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:04,120 Speaker 1: But as far as load management goes, the league is 973 00:46:04,120 --> 00:46:05,800 Speaker 1: already taking some steps, and I think they'll wait to 974 00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:07,480 Speaker 1: see a couple of years to see how that goes 975 00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:09,800 Speaker 1: before they make any changes. But truth of the matter is, 976 00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:11,080 Speaker 1: I don't think you're going to see any sort of 977 00:46:11,080 --> 00:46:14,560 Speaker 1: shift in how often players play unless they shorten the 978 00:46:14,560 --> 00:46:18,520 Speaker 1: season and they're just not going to Let's see last question. 979 00:46:18,680 --> 00:46:20,920 Speaker 1: Do you think the Warriors would make a trade for 980 00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:24,080 Speaker 1: LaMelo Bom looks like he would be the perfect second option, 981 00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:27,400 Speaker 1: So I wouldn't go for a guard. The main reason 982 00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:32,200 Speaker 1: why is, like, to me, specifically, if Steph is your 983 00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:34,880 Speaker 1: skill guard. This is like our number those of you 984 00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:36,399 Speaker 1: guys who have been listening to the show for a while. 985 00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:38,320 Speaker 1: I have like a kind of a concept of a 986 00:46:39,360 --> 00:46:42,319 Speaker 1: typical team build, and that is like, I want a 987 00:46:42,360 --> 00:46:44,960 Speaker 1: skill guard, a guard who is excellent at running action. 988 00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:48,360 Speaker 1: Then I want an athletic guard, a guard that's excellent 989 00:46:48,520 --> 00:46:50,719 Speaker 1: at the point of attack defensively, can run his lane 990 00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:53,560 Speaker 1: and transition, and typically on offense at least can shoot 991 00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:56,920 Speaker 1: and drive a close out. For the sake of this experiment, 992 00:46:57,000 --> 00:46:59,959 Speaker 1: imagine like a contavious Colbo Pope as like an exam 993 00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:01,040 Speaker 1: sample of that type of player. 994 00:47:01,120 --> 00:47:01,279 Speaker 2: Right. 995 00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:05,279 Speaker 1: Then I want a skinny, perimeter oriented forward. Then I 996 00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:09,000 Speaker 1: want a bigger, stronger forward that plays more of like 997 00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:11,560 Speaker 1: a it's not a second big man, but he's like 998 00:47:11,920 --> 00:47:14,479 Speaker 1: he's like a big athletic forward, but he functions more 999 00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:18,240 Speaker 1: in like kind of paint athleticism strength areas as opposed 1000 00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:21,399 Speaker 1: to like foot speed, quickness on the perimeter type of thing. 1001 00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:23,200 Speaker 1: And then I want a center that can guard in 1002 00:47:23,239 --> 00:47:24,960 Speaker 1: multiple different ways. I want him to be able to drop, 1003 00:47:24,960 --> 00:47:26,440 Speaker 1: and I want him to be able to switch and 1004 00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:29,480 Speaker 1: at least be able to screen and make decisions as 1005 00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:30,920 Speaker 1: a passer at the top of the key and roll 1006 00:47:30,920 --> 00:47:33,040 Speaker 1: hard to the basket and finish above the rim. Right, 1007 00:47:33,280 --> 00:47:36,760 Speaker 1: Like that to me is liker your stereotypical team build. 1008 00:47:36,760 --> 00:47:39,239 Speaker 1: And obviously there's so many unicorns in the league that 1009 00:47:39,239 --> 00:47:40,759 Speaker 1: there are all these different builds and there's a lot 1010 00:47:40,760 --> 00:47:42,160 Speaker 1: of different ways to do it. But that to me 1011 00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:45,560 Speaker 1: is like just a baseline kind of view of how 1012 00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:49,160 Speaker 1: I how I personally view that type of team construct. 1013 00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:53,120 Speaker 1: So Steph is your skill guard, then I wouldn't put 1014 00:47:53,120 --> 00:47:57,560 Speaker 1: another kind of like loose. I'm just gonna use the 1015 00:47:57,560 --> 00:48:00,319 Speaker 1: word loose with LaMelo in the sense that like he's 1016 00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:02,799 Speaker 1: at a phase of his career where like there's all 1017 00:48:02,840 --> 00:48:05,399 Speaker 1: of this crazy high level basketball coming out of him, 1018 00:48:05,840 --> 00:48:08,880 Speaker 1: but he still can be very sloppy and inattentive on 1019 00:48:08,920 --> 00:48:13,040 Speaker 1: the details, right, Like you want you want bulldog athletes 1020 00:48:13,040 --> 00:48:15,839 Speaker 1: next to Steph. And that's what's making this Warriors team work, right, 1021 00:48:15,960 --> 00:48:18,760 Speaker 1: is like they have Steph out there, they have Buddy 1022 00:48:18,800 --> 00:48:20,919 Speaker 1: Healed out there, but the guards that are out there, 1023 00:48:20,960 --> 00:48:24,760 Speaker 1: they're they're bulldog guards. It's the Anthony Mountain, It's Gary Payton, 1024 00:48:24,800 --> 00:48:28,200 Speaker 1: the second, it's Brandon Pajemski, they have bulldog guards that 1025 00:48:28,280 --> 00:48:30,520 Speaker 1: do the dirty work at a super high level. And 1026 00:48:30,600 --> 00:48:33,759 Speaker 1: so like I look more at the forward position, and 1027 00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:35,279 Speaker 1: again you have to you have to make that call 1028 00:48:35,320 --> 00:48:37,200 Speaker 1: when you get closer to that point. It also depends 1029 00:48:37,239 --> 00:48:39,480 Speaker 1: on who's available. But there's a lot of There are 1030 00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:42,200 Speaker 1: a lot of potential forwards that could be available this year, 1031 00:48:42,239 --> 00:48:45,520 Speaker 1: guys like Jeremy Grant, Guys like Brandon Ingram that could 1032 00:48:45,520 --> 00:48:48,680 Speaker 1: be available at the tail end of this trade cycle 1033 00:48:48,800 --> 00:48:50,720 Speaker 1: that you could be looking at. And to me, those 1034 00:48:50,760 --> 00:48:53,600 Speaker 1: make the most sense because that kind of slots into 1035 00:48:53,640 --> 00:48:56,480 Speaker 1: a position group where you get more inconsistent play, right, 1036 00:48:56,560 --> 00:49:00,800 Speaker 1: Like the backcourt concept works with Steph and Buddy in 1037 00:49:00,880 --> 00:49:04,239 Speaker 1: all the speed, right, but like the frontcour dynamic, it's like, 1038 00:49:04,640 --> 00:49:07,440 Speaker 1: you know, you know Moses Moody, some nicey's good, some 1039 00:49:07,560 --> 00:49:10,000 Speaker 1: nights he's not. You know Jonathan Aminge, some nights he's good, 1040 00:49:10,040 --> 00:49:11,920 Speaker 1: some night, some nice he's not. There's a lot of 1041 00:49:11,960 --> 00:49:15,440 Speaker 1: inconsistency in the forward core, and that to me is 1042 00:49:15,480 --> 00:49:18,160 Speaker 1: like a spot where a scoring forward I think slots 1043 00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:20,400 Speaker 1: really well. The other thing, too, is like I've always 1044 00:49:20,480 --> 00:49:23,800 Speaker 1: liked it when your two best players play very different 1045 00:49:23,840 --> 00:49:27,200 Speaker 1: positions and draw two different types of defenders, because that 1046 00:49:27,320 --> 00:49:30,680 Speaker 1: makes you more dangerous in screening actions. Right, Like one 1047 00:49:30,719 --> 00:49:33,479 Speaker 1: of the downsides of the Lebron James Anthony Davis build 1048 00:49:33,480 --> 00:49:35,680 Speaker 1: with the Lakers is a lot of teams can switch 1049 00:49:35,719 --> 00:49:39,080 Speaker 1: that action. The Lakers have always been very vulnerable to 1050 00:49:39,120 --> 00:49:41,040 Speaker 1: teams that can switch. That's what they did them in 1051 00:49:41,080 --> 00:49:43,160 Speaker 1: against the Detroit Pistons the other night. 1052 00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:43,440 Speaker 2: Right. 1053 00:49:43,480 --> 00:49:46,640 Speaker 1: So, like when you have Stephan a forward, you open 1054 00:49:46,719 --> 00:49:49,440 Speaker 1: up two different types of actions, right, You open up 1055 00:49:49,520 --> 00:49:52,640 Speaker 1: like the let's just screen and get a switch, and 1056 00:49:52,680 --> 00:49:55,840 Speaker 1: now we're attacking a matchup, right, which is like, Okay, 1057 00:49:55,920 --> 00:49:58,160 Speaker 1: I've got Steph with a bigger forward that he can 1058 00:49:58,200 --> 00:50:01,200 Speaker 1: beat off the dribble or now big scoring forward as 1059 00:50:01,239 --> 00:50:03,560 Speaker 1: a quick guard who has been guarding Steph on him, 1060 00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:05,360 Speaker 1: and we can go to attack in the post. But 1061 00:50:05,400 --> 00:50:06,719 Speaker 1: the other thing, too, is like there's a lot of 1062 00:50:06,760 --> 00:50:08,840 Speaker 1: teams that will try to not give up those switches, 1063 00:50:09,080 --> 00:50:10,880 Speaker 1: and that's where you can get the defense in rotation 1064 00:50:10,960 --> 00:50:13,680 Speaker 1: with basic screening actions. So imagine you have a scoring 1065 00:50:13,719 --> 00:50:17,440 Speaker 1: forward and Steph is setting a ball screen for him, Like, 1066 00:50:18,000 --> 00:50:21,160 Speaker 1: are you gonna hedge off of Steph? Because if you 1067 00:50:21,200 --> 00:50:24,120 Speaker 1: hedge off of Steph he's slipping out of that and 1068 00:50:24,160 --> 00:50:26,040 Speaker 1: he's gonna get a wide open catch and shoot three 1069 00:50:26,040 --> 00:50:28,759 Speaker 1: every time. Well, if you stay attached to Steph and 1070 00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:31,480 Speaker 1: he sets a screen, then you're forward. As long as 1071 00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:34,520 Speaker 1: Steph sets a good screen, the Ford's gonna get downhill. 1072 00:50:34,719 --> 00:50:36,400 Speaker 1: We've already seen a lot of this. How often do 1073 00:50:36,440 --> 00:50:38,920 Speaker 1: the Warriors run that inverted ball screen action where they 1074 00:50:38,920 --> 00:50:41,000 Speaker 1: have Steph screen for Andrew Wiggins and the same sort 1075 00:50:41,000 --> 00:50:43,239 Speaker 1: of thing happens where Andrew tends to get downhill in 1076 00:50:43,280 --> 00:50:46,520 Speaker 1: those situations, right, Like, that's where you can get those 1077 00:50:47,120 --> 00:50:50,719 Speaker 1: sorts of easy advantages at the beginning of possessions, right, 1078 00:50:50,760 --> 00:50:53,200 Speaker 1: and so like that's kind of why and envision more 1079 00:50:53,239 --> 00:50:55,360 Speaker 1: of a scoring forward than a scoring guard is the 1080 00:50:55,400 --> 00:50:57,359 Speaker 1: type of guy that the Warriors. 1081 00:50:57,040 --> 00:50:57,600 Speaker 2: Would go after. 1082 00:50:57,880 --> 00:51:00,000 Speaker 1: All right, guys, that is always all I have for tonight. 1083 00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:02,160 Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting me 1084 00:51:02,239 --> 00:51:05,600 Speaker 1: and supporting the show. Tomorrow, we'll probably have this mail 1085 00:51:05,640 --> 00:51:07,560 Speaker 1: bag breakout as a video, but we also have the 1086 00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:10,000 Speaker 1: deep dive on the Cleveland Cavaliers coming out, and then 1087 00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:12,680 Speaker 1: we're going to be back on Thursday morning with a 1088 00:51:12,719 --> 00:51:15,200 Speaker 1: bunch of game reaction and film we haven't done a 1089 00:51:15,200 --> 00:51:17,279 Speaker 1: timp's tape episode yet this week, we're definitely going to 1090 00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:18,160 Speaker 1: do one on Thursday. 1091 00:51:18,360 --> 00:51:18,840 Speaker 2: Don't forget. 1092 00:51:18,840 --> 00:51:21,200 Speaker 1: I'm also recording a mail bag on Thursday that's going 1093 00:51:21,200 --> 00:51:24,680 Speaker 1: to run in on Friday. So make sure you keep 1094 00:51:24,719 --> 00:51:26,960 Speaker 1: dropping mailbag questions in those YouTube comments and we'll get 1095 00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:27,520 Speaker 1: to them then. 1096 00:51:27,600 --> 00:51:29,359 Speaker 2: All right. I appreciate you, guys, and we will see 1097 00:51:29,360 --> 00:51:30,440 Speaker 2: you tomorrow. 1098 00:51:31,719 --> 00:51:32,360 Speaker 1: The volume. 1099 00:51:33,120 --> 00:51:33,640 Speaker 2: What's Up guys? 1100 00:51:33,680 --> 00:51:36,440 Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting 1101 00:51:36,480 --> 00:51:39,080 Speaker 1: OOPS tonight. It would actually be really helpful for us 1102 00:51:39,120 --> 00:51:41,000 Speaker 1: if you guys would take a second and leave a 1103 00:51:41,120 --> 00:51:43,680 Speaker 1: rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys 1104 00:51:43,680 --> 00:51:45,319 Speaker 1: supporting us, but if you could take a minute to 1105 00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:47,160 Speaker 1: do that, I'd really appreciate it.