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Speaker 1: The volume.

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Speaker 2: All right, Well go to him tonight. You're at the volume.

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Speaker 2: Happy Thursday, everybody.

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Speaker 1: Hope all of you guys had an incredible week so far.

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Speaker 1: Got a jam pack show for you guys today. Trey

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Speaker 1: Young has been traded. It's probably the most boring superstar

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Speaker 1: trade that I can remember in the last you know,

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Speaker 1: ten years or so. But there are a couple interesting

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Speaker 1: angles that I want to dive into, especially involving Trey

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Speaker 1: Young's value, as well as an interesting kind of like gamble,

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Speaker 1: not too much of a gamble from the Washington Wizards.

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Speaker 1: I want to dive into that a little bit. Then

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Speaker 1: we're gonna hit on three games from last night. Last

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Speaker 1: night was an insane set of games on a Thursday night,

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Speaker 1: and there are some games from last night that I'm

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Speaker 1: not gonna be able to get to today. I will

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Speaker 1: try to touch on some of those in the Mailbag

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Speaker 1: episode that is coming out tomorrow, so hang out. Specifically

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Speaker 1: war Bucks. Didn't get a chance to hit on that

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Speaker 1: this morning. I'll try to touch on that in tomorrow's

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Speaker 1: mail Bag, as well as that Nuggets Celtics game. The

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Speaker 1: games we are hitting today Rockets, Blazers, Nick's Clippers, and

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Speaker 1: Spurs Lakers. You guys know the joke before we get

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Speaker 1: started to subscribe to Oops in not YouTube channel so

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Speaker 1: you don't miss any more of our videos like this video.

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Speaker 1: That helps us a lot in the last but not least,

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Speaker 1: if you want to get questions into the mail bag,

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Speaker 1: too late for this week's mail bag, but if you

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Speaker 1: want to get it for next week's mailbag, start dropping

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Speaker 1: them in the YouTube comments. We'll get to them on Fridays.

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Speaker 1: Moving forward, all right, let's talk some basketball. So Trey

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Speaker 1: Young has been traded officially to the Washington Wizards for

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Speaker 1: CJ McCollum and Corey Kisbert.

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Speaker 2: That's it.

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Speaker 1: No picks, no swaps, no nothing else. I mentioned this

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Speaker 1: on Tuesday, but this is definitely the most boring potential

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Speaker 1: outcome to this particular situation.

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Speaker 2: Why because you have.

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Speaker 1: A star going to a team that has no hope

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Speaker 1: of competing for a title anytime soon. Even something like

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Speaker 1: Brandon Ingram going to Toronto last year that came hand

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Speaker 1: in hand with the Raptors playing some really good basketball

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Speaker 1: at the tail end of the year, him kind of

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Speaker 1: fitting the archetype of a player they didn't have as

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Speaker 1: kind of like a more refined over the top mid

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Speaker 1: range scorer, and you perceived the possibility that the Raptors

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Speaker 1: could make a leap into being more of a competitive team.

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Speaker 1: And they got another huge win last night again and

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Speaker 1: insane night. I didn't even mention this, but the Raptors

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Speaker 1: ended up getting a huge win on an Emmanual Quickly

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Speaker 1: game winner last night, a movement three reminiscent of Damian

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Speaker 1: Lillard's series ending three with the Blazers of You almost

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Speaker 1: a decade ago. Now, just ran off to his left side,

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Speaker 1: planted that right foot, left foot, rose up, and knocked

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Speaker 1: down a shot to win a game. Now the Raptors

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Speaker 1: are twenty three and fifteen. They have the tenth best

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Speaker 1: record in the league. That's not what's happening with Trey

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Speaker 1: Young going to Washington. But there are a couple of

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Speaker 1: interesting angles to get at here, So why don't we

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Speaker 1: get into those first tray's value. So the only real

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Speaker 1: asset return they got was the CJ. McCollum expiring. That's

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Speaker 1: a real asset. For the record, the Hawks get off

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Speaker 1: of forty nine million in salary next year. They just

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Speaker 1: had to take on the Corey kisspurg deal two more

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Speaker 1: years at twenty seven million dollars total, It's like fourteen

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Speaker 1: next year, thirteen the following year, and then a team option,

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Speaker 1: so some team flexibility regarding that. So you're basically turning

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Speaker 1: a forty nine million dollar chunk on your payroll next

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Speaker 1: season into something that's substantially more manageable for just two

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Speaker 1: additional seasons. That's interesting, But I want to get to

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Speaker 1: one more detail before we get back to that.

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Speaker 2: Why did Trey want to go to Washington?

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Speaker 1: Like most stars in a situation like this would want

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Speaker 1: to go somewhere to try to compete for a championship.

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Speaker 1: And while Washington actually does have a couple of young

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Speaker 1: players that I like, that team is going nowhere fast,

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Speaker 1: at least in terms of contention. That's the most interesting

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Speaker 1: part of this deal. We can infer from both the

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Speaker 1: return being just an expiring and a bench shooter on

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Speaker 1: a three year deal. Essentially, now we can infer that

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Speaker 1: the return combined with the destination being a team that

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Speaker 1: has no hope to contend that essentially, there wasn't a

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Speaker 1: single team in the NBA that was within range of

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Speaker 1: contention that viewed Trey Young as worth sending out large

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Speaker 1: salary to match or worth extending him onto a new

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Speaker 1: large salary contract. That's a really interesting statement about the

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Speaker 1: way the league values a player like Trey Young. He's

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Speaker 1: an offensive engine, but one that's not close to as

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Speaker 1: good as the other offensive engines in the league, specifically

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Speaker 1: as a crippling weakness against switching schemes. And then he's

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Speaker 1: also a truly problematic defender on the other end of

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Speaker 1: the floor. I actually think Treys become a little underrated

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Speaker 1: at this point. Him getting blamed for the Hawks defense

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Speaker 1: or their struggles when he played was pretty unfair in

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Speaker 1: my opinion, not to say that he was a great

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Speaker 1: defender in those games or anything. He certainly wasn't, but

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Speaker 1: I think their defensive issues go way deeper. We have

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Speaker 1: a mail back question we're gonna get to tomorrow regarding

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Speaker 1: the Hawks and how kind of like disappointing they've been,

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Speaker 1: and a big part of that is specifically the idea

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Speaker 1: that they were supposed to be this group of athletes

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Speaker 1: that would compete on the defensive end, and guys like

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Speaker 1: Jalen Johnson and Zachary Rissasche just have not been very

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Speaker 1: good on defense. So their issues go way deeper than

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Speaker 1: Trey and by the way, it's not like they've been

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Speaker 1: great with Trey out. They've been mediocre with Trey out,

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Speaker 1: and then they've been bad with Trey in a relatively

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Speaker 1: small sample. So I do think he's become a little

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Speaker 1: bit underrated. I do think that there's a chance, Like

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Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's likely necessarily, but I wouldn't be

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Speaker 1: shocked if the Wizards made the playoffs next season. They're

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Speaker 1: not gonna compete for a championship or anything, but I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't be shocked if they made the playoffs next season.

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Speaker 1: That's the type of talent that Trey Young is, the

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Speaker 1: type of floor raising offensive engine that he is. But

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Speaker 1: the fact remains that the league right now, especially the

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Speaker 1: competitive teams at the top, do not value him enter Washington,

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Speaker 1: so the price is basically just Corey Kisspert, a bench shooter,

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Speaker 1: you know, player that you know. I think he's a fine,

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Speaker 1: fine player, nothing that's gonna be viewed as a foundational asset,

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Speaker 1: but a fine player. And then CJ McCollum, who's been

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Speaker 1: wonderful for them, but he doesn't factor into their plans

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Speaker 1: at all, and he's on an expiring salary. Now, yes,

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Speaker 1: if you take on Trey's contract, you have forty nine

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Speaker 1: million dollars on the book's next season. But similar to

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Speaker 1: what happened with Oklahoma City when they signed Isaiah Hartenstein,

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Speaker 1: they signed him in a phase where they weren't gonna

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Speaker 1: have to pay anybody else yet, and so then Oklahoma

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Speaker 1: City's not gonna pay Isaiah Hartenstein thirty million dollars after

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Speaker 1: his deal expires, right because now Chet makes a lot

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Speaker 1: of money. Now Jadug makes a lot of money. Now

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Speaker 1: Shay makes a lot of money. Similarly with Washington, Alex

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Speaker 1: Sar on his rookie deal, Trey Johnson on his rookie deal,

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Speaker 1: Ballallacula Bali on his rookie deal, Keishawn George on his

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Speaker 1: rookie deal. None of them have to get paid next year.

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Speaker 1: So there's basically this is like a literal no risk

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Speaker 1: situation for the Wizards. Then you start to look at

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Speaker 1: those young players and it's like Alex Sar kind of

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Speaker 1: a two way center, a strong defensive prospect that has

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Speaker 1: considerably more offensive polished than most players that kind of

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Speaker 1: fit that archetype. You have Trey Johnson, one of my

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Speaker 1: favorite prospects in last year's draft, just a textbook off

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Speaker 1: ball scorer is really good at curling over screens and

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Speaker 1: making very quick, easy scoring reads and decisions like oh

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Speaker 1: they go under, I'm shooting, or hey gets caught on

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Speaker 1: the screen, I'm shooting. If he's chasing me, I'm curling.

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Speaker 1: If he curls, I've got these scoring moves. If they show,

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Speaker 1: I've got these little easy reads I can make. I

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Speaker 1: think Trey Johnson is like the quintessential modern off ball guard.

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Speaker 1: I love him as a prospect, but he's not gonna

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Speaker 1: be the guy who's running twenty five pick and rolls

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Speaker 1: a game Ballahulabali, your textbook kind of three and D

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Speaker 1: wing right, Keyshawn George.

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Speaker 2: I think he's on.

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Speaker 1: George has actually shown some decent on ball chops, but

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Speaker 1: he's not the kind of guy that you're viewing as

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Speaker 1: like a foundational shot creator to where Trey Young is

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Speaker 1: gonna come in and mess up his development, And that's

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Speaker 1: not the case. I think he's still gonna get plenty

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Speaker 1: of opportunities even alongside Trey Young. So if you look

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Speaker 1: at all that, you got a bunch of off ball

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Speaker 1: guys that'll actually just benefit from Trey throwing kick ahead passes.

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Speaker 1: From him feeding guys in pick and roll and setting

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Speaker 1: them up with advantages from him setting the stage for

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Speaker 1: them on offense. And it's quite literally a no risk situation.

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Speaker 1: If it goes super well and Trey makes them competitive,

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Speaker 1: which again is certainly a possibility, then Trey Young's twenty

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Speaker 1: seven years old, so maybe you extend him and give

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Speaker 1: him a few more years and give him a longer

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Speaker 1: runway to try to help this group. If it goes

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Speaker 1: poorly and it doesn't look good when he's out there,

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Speaker 1: and by the end of the deal, you're just like

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Speaker 1: kind of you know, by the beginning of next season,

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Speaker 1: you're basically like, you know, twenty thirty games into the season,

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Speaker 1: you're benching Tray or like not playing in very many minutes.

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Speaker 2: Who cares?

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Speaker 1: You lost CJ McCollum, and you lost a bench shooter,

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Speaker 1: a decent bench shooter. You can either trade Trey Young's

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Speaker 1: expiring next year, which will be a big value, Like

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Speaker 1: you trade Trey Young to somebody next year. It's an

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Speaker 1: expiring salary. Right now, there's agency politics you have to

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Speaker 1: deal with there, because Trey's gonna want an extension, and

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Speaker 1: who knows, maybe the Wizards end up giving him a

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Speaker 1: brief extension this summer. It's very possible that he signs

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Speaker 1: like a one plus one or something like that this summer.

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Speaker 1: We'll end up seeing but if it goes well, you

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Speaker 1: can extend him. If it doesn't, you can let him expire,

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Speaker 1: or you can trade him next season to the team

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Speaker 1: that will extend him. So it's a zero risk proposition

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Speaker 1: for Washington. So even though it's boring, I do like

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Speaker 1: it for Washington and it'll make them more interesting to

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Speaker 1: watch in the next year or so. For Atlanta, I'm

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Speaker 1: actually not as high on Atlanta's core as I was.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's funny. Jalen Johnson's been a statistic explosion

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Speaker 1: this year, but I'm not quite as high on Jalen

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Speaker 1: Johnson as most people are. I believe in Jalen Johnson's

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Speaker 1: potential for sure. To be clear, like Hawks fans, I'm

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Speaker 1: not saying that Jalen's a bum. I'm just saying, like

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Speaker 1: the player that I think he can be, I think

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Speaker 1: he's pretty far from that at this point. The main

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Speaker 1: reason why he's not good on defense and he's not

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Speaker 1: good at generating efficient offense for himself in slow down

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Speaker 1: half court situations. I think that makes him less effective

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Speaker 1: than his statistical production would lead you to believe.

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Speaker 2: Both of those are fixable.

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Speaker 1: Jalen Johnson absolutely has the potential to be a very

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Speaker 1: good defender, and he absolutely has the potential to increase

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Speaker 1: his half court polish and to become a better offensive

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Speaker 1: player there. I just think he's a few years away

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Speaker 1: from that sort of thing, so I'm not quite as

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Speaker 1: high on him as everyone else is. And then Zachary

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Speaker 1: Risosche has been flat out disappointing. And you know, there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of things I really like about Zach and

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Speaker 1: the way he runs the floor and some of his

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Speaker 1: scoring polish attacking closeouts, but it just hasn't really come

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Speaker 1: together into the you know, kind of quintessential three and

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Speaker 1: D prospect that we thought that he would become that

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Speaker 1: weak side scoring forward mixed with like really good off

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Speaker 1: ball defender, rebounder type of guy. Like it just hasn't

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Speaker 1: really come together for Zacharusaschet. But what I do think

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Speaker 1: would be fascinating is if Atlanta, in conjunction with this deal,

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Speaker 1: was able to go and get Anthony Davis. If they

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Speaker 1: can pull that off, That's where I think this becomes

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Speaker 1: pretty interesting. Anthony Davis, in my opinion, what he's healthy,

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Speaker 1: is one of the three best defenders in the entire world,

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Speaker 1: so like, even at this age, so like he would

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Speaker 1: overnight make them an elite defense, even with their flawed forwards,

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Speaker 1: because it's just the kind of thing that Anthony Davis

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Speaker 1: can clean up. He's in With Lakers fans, we used

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Speaker 1: to always joke that he was the guy that was

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Speaker 1: doing all the dirty work and not getting any credit

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Speaker 1: for it, and so like, a lot of the focus

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Speaker 1: was on what he was doing offensively, and there were

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Speaker 1: some legitimate criticisms for there with Anthony Davis, But like,

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Speaker 1: when he's healthy and on the floor, he's simply one

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Speaker 1: of the best floor raising defense and defensive rebounding bigs

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Speaker 1: in the entire NBA, So like there's a ton of

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Speaker 1: value there with You can imagine a situation with a

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Speaker 1: bunch of athletes around Anthony Davis where you could keep

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Speaker 1: games close if games are close.

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Speaker 2: That's where CJ.

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Speaker 1: McCollum enters. The situation is a very dangerous ceiling razor

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Speaker 1: for them. If you end up playing Atlanta and a

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Speaker 1: series and they have an Anthony Davis and every game

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Speaker 1: is close over the final three minutes. All it takes

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Speaker 1: is CJ McCollum hit a couple of shots here or there,

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Speaker 1: a couple of little pull up mid range shots, drawing

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Speaker 1: a foul because he catches somebody reaching in trying trying

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Speaker 1: to split a pick and roll or something along those lines.

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Speaker 1: Those little, you know, brief, small sample sequences are areas

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Speaker 1: where CJ can be very dangerous. And so I think

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Speaker 1: if Atlanta can get Anthony Davis, you put together CJ

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Speaker 1: McCollum with Anthony Davis and all those athletes, I think

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Speaker 1: they become a very dangerous puncher's chance threat in the

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Speaker 1: Eastern Conference to upset some of the better teams there

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Speaker 1: at the top. So again, not the most interesting trade

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Speaker 1: that we've seen from a star in recent years, but

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Speaker 1: it does make each of these individual teams, Washington and

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Speaker 1: Atlanta potentially more interesting, especially if Atlanta is able to

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Speaker 1: combine this with another move here soon. Today's show is

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Speaker 1: New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia. All right, let's get

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Speaker 1: into some game reactions from last night. So we had

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Speaker 1: an epic showdown last night between the Rockets and the Blazers,

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant and Danny Avdia putting up a combined seventy

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Speaker 1: eight points between the two of them is actually a

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Speaker 1: pretty close game. The Blazers very briefly took a double

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Speaker 1: digit lead in the late second quarter, but for the

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Speaker 1: most part in the second half it kind of lingered

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Speaker 1: in that zero to seven point range for a Blazer lead,

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Speaker 1: and it was insistently back and forth, like kd would

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Speaker 1: come down and hit a couple of shots and make

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Speaker 1: a run that would tie the game or get them

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Speaker 1: back to within a bucket, and then Denny Avdio would

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Speaker 1: go down and he'd goes screaming downhill and uh like

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Speaker 1: rejecting a ball screen and getting an hand one, or

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Speaker 1: he'd methodically worked down in pick and roll and make

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Speaker 1: a play and the lead would get back up. Kadie

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Speaker 1: finishes with thirty seven. AVDA finishes with forty one. Several

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Speaker 1: big swing plays that went Portland's way in the fourth quarter,

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Speaker 1: a couple of crazy sequences like it started with Houston

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Speaker 1: just missing a ton of shots around the rim. So

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Speaker 1: NBA dot Com had Houston last night at nine for

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Speaker 1: twenty three unshot attempts within five feet of the rim,

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Speaker 1: just brew to lots of misses. And there was a

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Speaker 1: couple of these big fourth quarter sequences, one where Dorian

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Speaker 1: Phinney Smith in transition is just like right at the

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Speaker 1: rim for a little right handed layup, and it looked

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Speaker 1: like it got caught on the back end of his palm,

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Speaker 1: so he didn't have his fingers on the ball, so

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Speaker 1: he kind of just like threw his wrist up and

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Speaker 1: he just threw it into the bottom of the rim,

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Speaker 1: so he smokes an easy layup. Blazers go down and

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Speaker 1: hit a corner three, like huge five point swing. Almost

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Speaker 1: immediately after that same sort of thing, the rock get

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Speaker 1: four offensive rebounds in the same possession, miss all five

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Speaker 1: of the shots that they get, and then the Blazers

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Speaker 1: go down and hit a three. It was just like

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Speaker 1: these gut punch like shotgun, blast of the chest type

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Speaker 1: of sequences going against Houston. And then finally the big

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Speaker 1: swing play at the end, Kevin Durant draws a double

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Speaker 1: team kind of dribbling to his right around the right elbow,

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Speaker 1: just elevates over the top and misses a very tough

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Speaker 1: pull up jump shot. But in the ensuing four on

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Speaker 1: three on the back line, Tar Easton's wide open underneath

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Speaker 1: the basket for a tap in taps it in. Rockets win.

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Speaker 1: We're all celebrating. We go look at the camera and

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Speaker 1: there's a fingertip on the basketball as the light lights

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Speaker 1: up right, so all that celebration for the Rockets disappears,

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Speaker 1: basket gets wiped away. Blazers win. Definitely a heartbreaker for

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Speaker 1: Rockets fans. I'm actually, like I came away from that game,

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Speaker 1: a lot of Rockets fans were disappointed in some of

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Speaker 1: the shooting and some of the other things like that.

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Speaker 1: I came away thinking that was pretty admirable effort from

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Speaker 1: the Rockets. We'll talk about that in a minute. But

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Speaker 1: the Blazers have gathered some real momentum. That was their

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Speaker 1: fourth straight win. They've won six out of seven. They're

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Speaker 1: nine and five or since the December fourteenth, about a

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Speaker 1: four week sample. That's the second best record in the

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Speaker 1: league over that span, second only to Boston. They're now

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Speaker 1: eighteen and twenty. That's good for the nine seed in

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Speaker 1: the West at this point. But they've played a brutal schedule.

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Speaker 1: They've played the third toughest schedule in the entire league

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Speaker 1: to this point. For example, the Blazers have won ten

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Speaker 1: games against teams that are five hundred or better. Compare

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Speaker 1: that to a team like the Lakers, who currently have

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Speaker 1: the fifth best record in the NBA and they've literally

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Speaker 1: won seven of those games, or the thunder who have

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Speaker 1: the best record in the NBA and they've only won

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Speaker 1: nine of those games. The Blazers have won ten. That's

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Speaker 1: how difficult their schedule has been Now. The good news

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Speaker 1: is they have the easiest remaining schedule in the entire league.

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Speaker 1: They have forty four games left with a combined opponent

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Speaker 1: a win percentage of forty seven point four percent. It's

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Speaker 1: an easy schedule in a couple of different levels. One,

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Speaker 1: they have fewer games left than most teams, so they've

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Speaker 1: had a congested schedule early and they played tougher teams,

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Speaker 1: so now they more spaced out, lighter opponent difficulty schedule

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Speaker 1: over the course of the remainder of the season. So

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Speaker 1: surprised if the Blazers surge here a bit in the

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Speaker 1: second half of the season. I think they're a legitimate

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Speaker 1: threat to cause some issues for teams like Phoenix or

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Speaker 1: Golden State that are in that eight or seven range.

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Speaker 1: If either of them have an injury, or if either

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Speaker 1: of them play a couple of weeks of bad basketball,

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Speaker 1: the Blazers could end up jumping them. So that's the

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Speaker 1: type of threat that Portland represents here down the stretch

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Speaker 1: of the season. This momentum recently comes from their rising

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Speaker 1: star Denny Abdia. In this four game winning streak, he's

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Speaker 1: averaging thirty four points, eight rebounds, and eight assists on

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Speaker 1: fifty forty eighty sixty five percent true shooting. And then

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Speaker 1: this one which is a big hallmark that I've been

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Speaker 1: keying in on lately, turnovers. Only only two point eight

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Speaker 1: turnovers per game in that four game span. When you

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Speaker 1: are a deadly combination of efficient shot making and you're

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Speaker 1: not turning the basketball over, that means you're limiting mistakes

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Speaker 1: and preventing the other the opponent from getting out in transition.

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Speaker 1: Then you add in this insane production at thirty four

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Speaker 1: points and eight assists per games, is really really impressive stuff.

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Speaker 1: That's like the hallmark or in this kind of like

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Speaker 1: tier in the NBA. Can you score super efficiently, make

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Speaker 1: the reads as the defense reacts, and limit your mistakes.

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Speaker 1: And Denny's been doing that at a really high level.

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Speaker 1: Over the last couple of weeks. He's been the best

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Speaker 1: driver of the basketball in the entire league.

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Speaker 2: This season.

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Speaker 1: He's the only player in the NBA averaging over twenty

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Speaker 1: drives per game. I remember when I was scouting he

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Speaker 1: had this late season run for Portland last year. I

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Speaker 1: remember when I was scouting him, I was particularly amazed

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Speaker 1: by his change of pace, like he could slow down

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Speaker 1: and be methodical working and pick and roll, and look

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Speaker 1: like Luca where he's got the guy pinned on his

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Speaker 1: backside and he's just kind of working down the lane line,

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Speaker 1: and if you lean on him too much, he'll just

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Speaker 1: kind of rise up and shoot and draw foul. If

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Speaker 1: you let him work comfortably to his body just kind

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Speaker 1: of waits for the defense to react. Oh, the rim

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Speaker 1: protector doesn't step up. Here's a floater and he's been

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Speaker 1: fifty percent on short range shot making this year. Floaters

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Speaker 1: in twos inside of seventeen feet, he's right around fifty percent.

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Speaker 1: Like he's got all those little short range shot making.

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Speaker 1: He's got the lob pass, he's got vertical spacing threats

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Speaker 1: there in Portland. He hit a couple of those lobs

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Speaker 1: last night. He can throw the kickouts if you tag

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Speaker 1: the roller. He's just got all the you need to

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Speaker 1: be successful as a slow down, methodical pick and role player.

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Speaker 1: But then he can also just like hit the jets

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Speaker 1: and slash like the most athletically wings in the entire league.

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Speaker 1: There are a lot of big ball handlers in the

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Speaker 1: NBA that can methodically work and pick and roll, not

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Speaker 1: many that also slash with as much force as Danny

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Speaker 1: Avdia does. He's a royal pain in the ass to

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Speaker 1: guard and you could see the Rockets struggling with it

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Speaker 1: like that. He would being guarded by Tarry Easton and

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Speaker 1: a Men Thompson all night and they're packing the paint

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Speaker 1: because Portland's one of the worst three point shoot teams

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Speaker 1: in the league, I think the twenty six and three

432
00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:39,280
Speaker 1: point percentage, So there's all these opportunities to throw attention

433
00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:41,199
Speaker 1: at him and have good defenders on him, and they

434
00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:43,840
Speaker 1: could not stop him. And it is because of a

435
00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:48,240
Speaker 1: simple dynamic. If he uses the screen, he gets you

436
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:50,880
Speaker 1: chasing over the top, and as soon as you chase

437
00:20:50,920 --> 00:20:53,040
Speaker 1: over the top, he's bigger and stronger than you, so

438
00:20:53,080 --> 00:20:55,240
Speaker 1: he just traps you on his backside and methodically works

439
00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:56,960
Speaker 1: down the lane and waits for the defense to react

440
00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:59,600
Speaker 1: with all the stuff that we just talked about. But

441
00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:02,080
Speaker 1: if he catches you trying to beat him through the screen.

442
00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:04,000
Speaker 1: So that there was a couple times last night where

443
00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:05,800
Speaker 1: both Tari and a Men tried this where it's like

444
00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:08,919
Speaker 1: you sidle up over the top of the screen. You

445
00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:10,320
Speaker 1: try to stay in front of Denny because if you

446
00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:11,960
Speaker 1: can stay in front of Denny. That's where you can

447
00:21:12,080 --> 00:21:13,760
Speaker 1: make him more of a pull up three point shooter,

448
00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:15,479
Speaker 1: and he's not a good pull up three point shooter, right,

449
00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:17,119
Speaker 1: So that's what they're trying to do as they sidle

450
00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:19,400
Speaker 1: over the top. But as soon as you do that,

451
00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:22,159
Speaker 1: he just does a pushcross and rejects the screen. And

452
00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:24,720
Speaker 1: now he's screaming downhill one hundred miles an hour and

453
00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,320
Speaker 1: he's either getting a layup or he's drawn a foul.

454
00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:30,159
Speaker 1: And then when he does get into these straight up

455
00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:34,320
Speaker 1: ISO situations, whether it's through switches or whatever situation might

456
00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:37,119
Speaker 1: dictate him not being able to use a ball screen,

457
00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:41,080
Speaker 1: he's just really good at changing direction when you cut

458
00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,399
Speaker 1: him off, so he's gonna make a quick move. He

459
00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:47,000
Speaker 1: doesn't mess around with the basketball a ton. It's not

460
00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,640
Speaker 1: like chaining together multiple combinations out top. Like even when

461
00:21:50,640 --> 00:21:53,360
Speaker 1: he does dribble like three four times before he attacks,

462
00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:56,840
Speaker 1: it's always like super compact. The ball's barely moving. It's

463
00:21:56,880 --> 00:21:59,000
Speaker 1: moving like in a two or three foot space, and

464
00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:01,200
Speaker 1: it's protected under his knee. He's just getting you a

465
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:03,680
Speaker 1: lean one way. He's gonna hit the jets. Once he

466
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:05,639
Speaker 1: hits the jets, if you beat him to a spot.

467
00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:09,880
Speaker 1: He's got really good counter moves, very simple counter moves.

468
00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:11,919
Speaker 1: He's either gonna bump you and scissor dribble and go

469
00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:13,840
Speaker 1: back the other way, or he's gonna bump you and

470
00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:16,359
Speaker 1: go behind the back and go the other way. And

471
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:19,520
Speaker 1: it's just like an aggressive downhill attack that never stops.

472
00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:21,760
Speaker 1: And then the last part of it is the foul

473
00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:23,880
Speaker 1: line stuff. And again there's some grifty stuff in there,

474
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:25,639
Speaker 1: just like all the foul grifters in the league, and

475
00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:27,960
Speaker 1: I hate all of it for everybody. I have fan

476
00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:30,400
Speaker 1: bases that get really sensitive about this. I don't understand

477
00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:33,760
Speaker 1: why I've been very consistent about this, even with Lakers guys.

478
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,239
Speaker 2: The grifty stuff sucks. And then he's got some of that.

479
00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:39,240
Speaker 1: He'll do a low gatherer versus a hedge or a

480
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:41,800
Speaker 1: nail help kind of situation, or any sort of dig down.

481
00:22:41,800 --> 00:22:43,520
Speaker 1: He'll just low gather and try to rip through your

482
00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:45,679
Speaker 1: arms to draw a foul. If you're draped on his

483
00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:48,320
Speaker 1: backside and ball screen's back pressuring, he'll jump back into

484
00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:50,359
Speaker 1: you and shoot that floater, that little short jumper that

485
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:53,760
Speaker 1: draws that foul because you're over pursuing from behind. But

486
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:57,359
Speaker 1: it's not just that stuff. One of the biggest drivers

487
00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:00,359
Speaker 1: of his free throw rate is the specific that he

488
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:04,359
Speaker 1: initiates contact on layups. When Denny gets you out of

489
00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:07,520
Speaker 1: position in any way, or if he gets a step

490
00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:10,000
Speaker 1: on you on a drive. A lot of guys will,

491
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:12,919
Speaker 1: you know, initiate that contact and then leaning back and

492
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:16,400
Speaker 1: shoot something like I'll give you a perfect example, Amen

493
00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:19,320
Speaker 1: Thompson and men. Thompson's really good at like making these

494
00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:22,959
Speaker 1: aggressive driving moves, bumping into you to create that initial

495
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:24,960
Speaker 1: bit of separation, and then he'll just kind of lean

496
00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:27,360
Speaker 1: back and shoot like a short, little four or five

497
00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:29,040
Speaker 1: foot jump shot, and he's very good at it. You

498
00:23:29,040 --> 00:23:31,720
Speaker 1: had a big one in crunch time last night. Denny

499
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,680
Speaker 1: has a very different approach in those situations. He gets

500
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:36,359
Speaker 1: you out of position at all, or he gets you

501
00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:40,359
Speaker 1: like a step on you on a drive. He's going

502
00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:43,520
Speaker 1: through your fucking chest every time, like he is just

503
00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:46,600
Speaker 1: gathering up into your space and he's going right to

504
00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:48,280
Speaker 1: the room. That's why you get so many and ones

505
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:50,560
Speaker 1: because what ends up happening is he catches dudes off

506
00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:53,760
Speaker 1: guard with these super aggressive moves, and what he'll do

507
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:58,000
Speaker 1: is that as he's coming into your space, you end

508
00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:00,679
Speaker 1: up kind of naturally putting your hands to try to

509
00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:03,280
Speaker 1: protect yourself because you're like, oh shit, this giant human

510
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:05,320
Speaker 1: is trying to plow through my chest, right, And so

511
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:07,560
Speaker 1: he draws a lot of fouls where dudes are caught

512
00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:09,720
Speaker 1: off guard and they put their hands up and he

513
00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,360
Speaker 1: just powers through you. And it's an easy foul call

514
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:14,600
Speaker 1: because you got your hands on his arms. But it's

515
00:24:14,600 --> 00:24:17,640
Speaker 1: just a very interesting kind of like form of physical

516
00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:21,679
Speaker 1: aggression on drives, like Denny never wilts away from contact

517
00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:24,480
Speaker 1: on a drive to shoot like a drifting floater or

518
00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:27,920
Speaker 1: leaner like he is. If he's slashing, he's going through

519
00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:29,720
Speaker 1: your chest and he's going all the way to the

520
00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:30,280
Speaker 1: front of the rim.

521
00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:31,600
Speaker 2: He's just a hell of a player.

522
00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,320
Speaker 1: What a move from Joe Cronin to pick up a

523
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:37,040
Speaker 1: star level talent from a team that didn't even want it.

524
00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:40,119
Speaker 1: In Washington, I wanted to shout out some of the

525
00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:43,520
Speaker 1: Blazers role players, specifically Shade and Sharp and Caleb Love.

526
00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,440
Speaker 1: With all the injuries to Drew Holliday and Jeremy Grant,

527
00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:48,879
Speaker 1: there isn't a ton of ball handling or shot creation available.

528
00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:50,399
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about this concept when he gets the

529
00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:52,080
Speaker 1: Nicks in a little bit as an advantage that the

530
00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:54,960
Speaker 1: Knicks have. But when you have a situation like that,

531
00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:59,040
Speaker 1: having a guy that can just do something to create offense,

532
00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:01,280
Speaker 1: even if it's it's not the most efficient shot in

533
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:03,679
Speaker 1: the world, if you have a guy that can do

534
00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:07,439
Speaker 1: something to create offense, there's value there. So like Shaden

535
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:09,560
Speaker 1: Sharp and Quila Bluff, they go eleven for twenty nine

536
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,520
Speaker 1: last night, not the most efficient game in the world,

537
00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:15,720
Speaker 1: five turnovers between the two of them, but there were

538
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:19,320
Speaker 1: so many situations where one of those two guys was

539
00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:22,560
Speaker 1: able to generate something on offense from nothing, and in

540
00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:25,240
Speaker 1: an ugly, low scoring game like that, that's like found money.

541
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:28,080
Speaker 1: Little things like that late little right shoulder fade away

542
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:31,520
Speaker 1: from Shaden Sharp when Denny's doing everything, you don't think

543
00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:34,280
Speaker 1: it's super helpful that Shaden just randomly is able to

544
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:36,520
Speaker 1: dribble to the middle of the floor and pound dribble

545
00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:37,120
Speaker 1: and spin.

546
00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:39,359
Speaker 2: Over his right shoulder for a fade away and.

547
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:42,879
Speaker 1: Knock it down. That's a big shot last night, and

548
00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:45,720
Speaker 1: he can get to those shots and look, Denny's excuse me.

549
00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:48,000
Speaker 1: Shadan's been inefficient for the most part the series, been

550
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:49,639
Speaker 1: better as of late, but he's been inefficient for the

551
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:51,560
Speaker 1: most part this year, and he's gonna take a lot

552
00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:53,359
Speaker 1: of those shots and miss. And he's gonna take a

553
00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:55,200
Speaker 1: lot of those kind of like off the dribble jump shots,

554
00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:56,919
Speaker 1: maybe a little early in the clock, maybe when you

555
00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:00,199
Speaker 1: don't necessarily need to take it that early. But it's

556
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:03,520
Speaker 1: a shot that he can get to whenever because he's

557
00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:07,240
Speaker 1: so athletic and he has solid scoring footwork, and especially

558
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:09,320
Speaker 1: in this iteration of the team when most of their

559
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:13,080
Speaker 1: secondary ball handling is injured, having him be able to

560
00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:14,679
Speaker 1: get to his spots and create his own shot is

561
00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:18,320
Speaker 1: real value. I thought Caleb was fantastic, and you know,

562
00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:21,359
Speaker 1: I rooted for Caleb Arizona and he wasn't my favorite

563
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 1: player while he was there, but like he's carving out

564
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:27,640
Speaker 1: a little NBA role right now. He had a bench

565
00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:29,840
Speaker 1: unit in the first half with Denny off the floor

566
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:32,080
Speaker 1: where he created a shot for himself or someone else.

567
00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:36,240
Speaker 1: Several times carried a unit, whether it's him getting downhill

568
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,479
Speaker 1: and throwing a lob pass, whether it was him just

569
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,640
Speaker 1: getting a layup up on the rim against the rim protector,

570
00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:43,520
Speaker 1: even if he missed it, just to clear a lane

571
00:26:43,520 --> 00:26:45,440
Speaker 1: for someone to come in and get an offensive rebound,

572
00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:47,320
Speaker 1: the tough off the dribble shot making.

573
00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:49,880
Speaker 2: He had like three really tough a couple of.

574
00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:52,640
Speaker 1: Pullback jumpers, one from the mid range, one from three,

575
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:54,520
Speaker 1: and then he also had like a tough floater there

576
00:26:54,520 --> 00:26:56,440
Speaker 1: in the second half. Like a lot of really high

577
00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,240
Speaker 1: level shot making from Caleb. He's been a godsend for them.

578
00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,119
Speaker 1: He's shooting the three really well at volume over the

579
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:05,840
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks, like substantial production from a two

580
00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:10,200
Speaker 1: way guy. The Blazers have their vulnerabilities. Their bigs are

581
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:12,480
Speaker 1: slow and pretty much have to drop. That's why they

582
00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:14,960
Speaker 1: struggled so much with Kevin Durant last night, especially Klingon

583
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,880
Speaker 1: and Young Hansen uh or Yang Hansen, but uh Rob

584
00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:21,600
Speaker 1: Williams can switch a little bit, but they don't have

585
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:24,160
Speaker 1: a ton of scheme versatility on defense with their bigs.

586
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:25,920
Speaker 1: That can make them a little bit vulnerable to certain

587
00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 1: types of players. They're a really poor jump shooting team overall.

588
00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:32,040
Speaker 1: That makes life harder for a driving shot crater like

589
00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:34,320
Speaker 1: Denny Avdia. It's also my one gripe with Denny, Like

590
00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:39,639
Speaker 1: Denny's jump shot is hitchy, and what that means is

591
00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:42,239
Speaker 1: like in his gather there's like an energy transfer all

592
00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:44,440
Speaker 1: the way from the base to the top of the shot,

593
00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:46,240
Speaker 1: and Denny just has like a little bit of a

594
00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:48,680
Speaker 1: hitch in his gather and it's why he's so streaky

595
00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:51,159
Speaker 1: from three and especially off the dribble. It's why he

596
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:53,480
Speaker 1: leaves so many of those attempts short off the front

597
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:55,320
Speaker 1: of the rim. Like he's actually shot the ball really

598
00:27:55,359 --> 00:27:57,040
Speaker 1: well off catch This year, I think he's over forty

599
00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:59,280
Speaker 1: percent on catch and shoot threes. But he struggles off

600
00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:03,040
Speaker 1: the dribble because when he's connecting that ball handling sequence

601
00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:05,159
Speaker 1: to the shot, he loses power on the way up.

602
00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:06,639
Speaker 1: But it makes them streaky and it makes them leave

603
00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:08,960
Speaker 1: it short sometimes it's like my one gripe with Denny.

604
00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:11,640
Speaker 1: But the Blazers are not a very good jump shooting team,

605
00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:13,240
Speaker 1: and that's one of their weaknesses. That's one of the

606
00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:14,919
Speaker 1: reasons why no one's going to view them as like

607
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:17,440
Speaker 1: a legitimate threat to steal a playoff series or anything.

608
00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:20,480
Speaker 1: But they're athletic and they play hard, and they have

609
00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:23,320
Speaker 1: size and they have an elite shot creator and that

610
00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:25,439
Speaker 1: makes them at least a decent shot to move up

611
00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:27,320
Speaker 1: the standings here down the tail end of the season,

612
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:29,800
Speaker 1: especially for a team's like Golden State or Phoenix that

613
00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:31,800
Speaker 1: are in that seven or eight spot. A couple bad

614
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:34,040
Speaker 1: weeks from them and you could be looking up at

615
00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:37,160
Speaker 1: Portland in the standings. On the Houston front, I don't

616
00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:38,400
Speaker 1: have too much to say. I thought that was just

617
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:40,440
Speaker 1: a brutal shooting night for them in almost every way.

618
00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:43,080
Speaker 1: We talked about the rim finishing. What were they nine

619
00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:45,320
Speaker 1: for twenty three within five feet of the rim? They

620
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:48,440
Speaker 1: were also two for fifteen on unguarded catch and shoot threes.

621
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:49,200
Speaker 2: That's brutal.

622
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:51,840
Speaker 1: Forty percent on the season, middle of the pack, and

623
00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:54,720
Speaker 1: you go two for fifteen, Like, that's pretty tough. You

624
00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:56,440
Speaker 1: can really feel the loss of Shane Gun and the

625
00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 1: shot creation. Like Shanegun's been dealing with an ankle injury.

626
00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:01,000
Speaker 1: Apparently he's going to be coming back pretty soon. But

627
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:03,200
Speaker 1: Kevin Duranton and Men Thompson were really the only two

628
00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:05,960
Speaker 1: guys who could create anything off the bounce. Jabari Smith

629
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:11,280
Speaker 1: had a really rough night. Overall, I thought they were impressive. Again,

630
00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:14,320
Speaker 1: you're on the road at a very good team who

631
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,200
Speaker 1: happens to be red hot right now. You're down your

632
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,800
Speaker 1: second best player or maybe your best player, depending on

633
00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,840
Speaker 1: how you rank him or KD you shoot like absolute shit.

634
00:29:23,680 --> 00:29:26,120
Speaker 1: You're on the wrong end of three fourth quarter swings

635
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:29,440
Speaker 1: that we discussed earlier, like the five misses leading to

636
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,200
Speaker 1: a May three, or Dorian Pinney Smith smokes a layup,

637
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:35,600
Speaker 1: you know, leads to a mad three, the Tar Easton play,

638
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:37,480
Speaker 1: and that's the thing, Like, you're literally a fraction of

639
00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:39,120
Speaker 1: a second away from getting out of there with a win.

640
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:43,040
Speaker 1: Despite everything that happened. Those two teams are running it

641
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:46,080
Speaker 1: back tomorrow night in Portland, so Houston will get a

642
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:56,080
Speaker 1: chance to rectify what happened in that game. Clippers Knicks.

643
00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:59,560
Speaker 1: Clippers actually competed pretty well in this game. I don't

644
00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:01,800
Speaker 1: have any really negative to say about the Clippers, even

645
00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:04,640
Speaker 1: during the Knicks run in the late third quarter early fourth.

646
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:07,080
Speaker 1: I thought there were a lot of really good looks

647
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:11,040
Speaker 1: for the Clippers that they missed, some wide open threes

648
00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:12,960
Speaker 1: for some pretty good shooters that didn't go down.

649
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:14,600
Speaker 2: I'm still buying Clippers stock.

650
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:17,800
Speaker 1: But I did think we got to see an interesting

651
00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:19,600
Speaker 1: angle on this Knicks team that I haven't had a

652
00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:21,360
Speaker 1: chance to really dive into on the show today that

653
00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:24,040
Speaker 1: I wanted to get into this During that stretch that

654
00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:26,360
Speaker 1: cold stretch for the Clippers in the late third, early fourth,

655
00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:28,720
Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson's off the floor for the entire time there,

656
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,040
Speaker 1: and it was the depth of ball handling for New

657
00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:34,200
Speaker 1: York that came up, as like, Jordan Clarkson makes a

658
00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:36,640
Speaker 1: big play in that run, Tyler Kullak hits a couple

659
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:39,040
Speaker 1: of big shots. Duce McBride is running action with cat

660
00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:41,160
Speaker 1: and hitting shots. Karl Anthony Towns is going to work

661
00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:43,200
Speaker 1: and they blow that game open, and it goes from

662
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:45,840
Speaker 1: a Clippers lead in the late third quarter to a

663
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:49,200
Speaker 1: double digit Nicks lead before Jalen Brunson comes back into

664
00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:50,840
Speaker 1: the game. And this is where I want to dig

665
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:52,960
Speaker 1: into this depth the ball handling concept for a minute,

666
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:56,440
Speaker 1: because again we were talking about this with Portland. You know,

667
00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:58,760
Speaker 1: you have Drew Holiday out of the lineup, you have

668
00:30:58,920 --> 00:31:01,520
Speaker 1: Jeremy Grant out of the line and so you need

669
00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:04,960
Speaker 1: somebody that can break a defense down or create something

670
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:07,160
Speaker 1: for themselves off the bounce. And that's where the value

671
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:09,600
Speaker 1: of Shad and Sharp and Caleb Love came in. You know,

672
00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:11,239
Speaker 1: last night I was on the other side of this

673
00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:12,920
Speaker 1: as a fan, as I was rooting for the Lakers,

674
00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:15,120
Speaker 1: right because you have Lebron James out of the lineup.

675
00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:17,160
Speaker 1: You have Austin Reeves out of the lineup. Even Ruey

676
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:18,600
Speaker 1: hatch Amurra can put the ball on the floor and

677
00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:20,200
Speaker 1: create a shot for himself out of the post. Every

678
00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:22,840
Speaker 1: once in a while he's out of the lineup, and

679
00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:26,240
Speaker 1: so it ends up being this like Luka Doncicz led team.

680
00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:29,000
Speaker 1: You've got Gabe Vincent's first came back from injury, and

681
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:32,120
Speaker 1: he's out of rhythm, and it's like Nick Smith Junior

682
00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:35,880
Speaker 1: a two way guy, and everyone else. It's like Jake

683
00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:38,640
Speaker 1: Laravia is not really breaking down the defense, Dalton Kneck's

684
00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:41,200
Speaker 1: not really breaking down the defense. Jared Vanderbilt sure as

685
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:44,000
Speaker 1: hell can't. DeAndre Ayton, sure as hell can't. Jackson Hayes,

686
00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:46,160
Speaker 1: sure as hell can't. Like as you go to, Marcus

687
00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:48,440
Speaker 1: Smart can do some stuff a little bit, but he's

688
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,480
Speaker 1: not doing a bunch, and there's this lack of depth

689
00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:52,000
Speaker 1: of ball hinding.

690
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:53,320
Speaker 2: The Lakers top.

691
00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:57,000
Speaker 1: Three guys are excellent, but once you get past those

692
00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:59,520
Speaker 1: three guys, there's just not a lot of ball handling

693
00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,440
Speaker 1: on the ross. Compare that with the New York Knicks

694
00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:05,719
Speaker 1: last night. You've got your top end guys, right, we

695
00:32:05,840 --> 00:32:08,280
Speaker 1: know what Jalen Brunson can do, we know what Ojan

696
00:32:08,360 --> 00:32:10,320
Speaker 1: Andobi can do, we know what mchel Bridges can do.

697
00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:13,520
Speaker 1: They are three primary perimeter ball handlers in the starting group.

698
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:16,480
Speaker 1: But when you can put together these lineups where it's

699
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:20,000
Speaker 1: like Jordan Clarkson has won games for the Knicks this year.

700
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:22,640
Speaker 1: He won the game for them on Christmas Day with

701
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:26,360
Speaker 1: the job that he did erasing that early Cleveland Cavaliers run.

702
00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:29,680
Speaker 1: Tyler Coolek won the game for them on Christmas Day

703
00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:31,280
Speaker 1: in a big way with the shots that he was

704
00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:33,800
Speaker 1: able to hit down the stretch off of the left wing,

705
00:32:34,160 --> 00:32:36,240
Speaker 1: and periodically over the course of the last couple of

706
00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:38,520
Speaker 1: weeks he's had several stretches Like that's kind of the

707
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:42,480
Speaker 1: thing when you have Colek, when you have Clarkson, when

708
00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:45,960
Speaker 1: you have Duce McBride, these other three dudes who can

709
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,640
Speaker 1: all kind of like take over the offense for a

710
00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:52,160
Speaker 1: little two three minute stretch, it kind of opens up

711
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,320
Speaker 1: all this potential for going off and the guys have

712
00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:57,680
Speaker 1: a natural method of kind of feeling that out. You

713
00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:02,239
Speaker 1: will see Jordan Clarkson be super aggressive sometimes and then

714
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:05,520
Speaker 1: you'll see stretches like that late third, early fourth last

715
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:09,880
Speaker 1: night where Clarkson is not as aggressive because coleex got

716
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:13,200
Speaker 1: it going or Duce mc bride's got it going. And

717
00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:15,200
Speaker 1: that's the thing that these guys, they feel it out.

718
00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:17,560
Speaker 1: If one of them's got it going, they lean into

719
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:21,040
Speaker 1: them a little bit more. But because you have legitimately

720
00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:26,640
Speaker 1: six dudes on the roster who can run action and

721
00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:30,280
Speaker 1: create a shot for themselves just on the perimeter, not

722
00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:32,840
Speaker 1: even talking about what Karl Anthony Townsend and Karl Anthony

723
00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:36,040
Speaker 1: Towns was amazing in that run, bullying zoo Bots on

724
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:39,200
Speaker 1: the offensive glass and getting put backs and ripping through

725
00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:40,959
Speaker 1: off the right wing and getting all the way to there.

726
00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:43,320
Speaker 1: He was a monster on the offensive glass, monster in

727
00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:45,480
Speaker 1: that entire run, as the as the Knicks blew the

728
00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:49,520
Speaker 1: game open. But when you look strictly at perimeter ball handling,

729
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:52,960
Speaker 1: in addition to everything else that Mike Brown has done

730
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:56,880
Speaker 1: to schematically improve this team and some of the internal improvement,

731
00:33:56,920 --> 00:33:59,320
Speaker 1: how much better Ojen An andob is this year over year?

732
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:01,560
Speaker 1: How much better Michale Bridges is a year over year.

733
00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:04,440
Speaker 1: We've talked about Jalen Brunson, if he's potentially making the

734
00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:08,400
Speaker 1: assent to that of a top tier superstar. There's also

735
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:12,960
Speaker 1: the additions bringing Colek into this situation, bringing Jordan Clarkson

736
00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:15,600
Speaker 1: into this situation. Duce McBride's been a staple here for years.

737
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:19,799
Speaker 1: This is a team that has an enormous depth of

738
00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:23,040
Speaker 1: ball handling, a ton of aggregate ball handling, and that

739
00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:27,000
Speaker 1: is what allows them to be so versatile on a

740
00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:28,759
Speaker 1: night to night basis in the way that they can

741
00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,319
Speaker 1: break you down on offense. And the last thing I'll

742
00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:33,360
Speaker 1: say about it is this is a big part of

743
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,440
Speaker 1: why it was so important to revamp things. In terms

744
00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:38,560
Speaker 1: of the way Tom Thibodeau is running the team. There

745
00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:41,520
Speaker 1: are two things, two major gripes with Tom. One he

746
00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:45,200
Speaker 1: didn't lean on his depth, and two the offense was

747
00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:49,440
Speaker 1: a little too stuck in the mud, a little too

748
00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:54,520
Speaker 1: you know, dependent on what Jalen Brunson could do. Having

749
00:34:55,000 --> 00:35:00,239
Speaker 1: six good perimeter ball handlers dictates that you should lean

750
00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:03,120
Speaker 1: on your bench more and that you should have a

751
00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:08,239
Speaker 1: system that predicates that is predicated on early attacks so

752
00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:10,680
Speaker 1: that you have a full twenty four seconds worth of

753
00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:14,600
Speaker 1: time for all your ball handlers to have multiple opportunities

754
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:17,640
Speaker 1: to break the defense down or to capitalize on advantages

755
00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:19,960
Speaker 1: created early in the possession. And so that's the thing

756
00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:22,880
Speaker 1: between bringing in the couple other pieces they brought in

757
00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:25,879
Speaker 1: this summer, the depth of ball handling they have, Mike

758
00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:28,680
Speaker 1: Brown's willingness to lean on those guys, and the system

759
00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:32,480
Speaker 1: being constructed around everyone being involved. That is what's allowing

760
00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:34,480
Speaker 1: this team to reach heights on offense that they didn't

761
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:36,359
Speaker 1: reach in previous seasons. And I thought that was the

762
00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:39,160
Speaker 1: story of last night's game. As the Knicks blue things

763
00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:44,320
Speaker 1: open against the Clippers, last one for tonight, san Antonio

764
00:35:44,360 --> 00:35:47,360
Speaker 1: gets back on track against the Lakers. So the Spurs

765
00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:50,200
Speaker 1: have been slumping on offense something fierce as of late.

766
00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:52,000
Speaker 1: Going into last night, they were the only team in

767
00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:56,319
Speaker 1: the NBA in their previous six games to have made

768
00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:58,520
Speaker 1: fewer than thirty percent of their three so they were

769
00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:00,600
Speaker 1: just ice cold from the primive. It cast him to

770
00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:04,160
Speaker 1: drop several games. They lost four out of six even

771
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:07,160
Speaker 1: when healthy. The Lakers provide a nice opportunity for a

772
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:08,879
Speaker 1: team like the Spurs to get their groove back because

773
00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:12,120
Speaker 1: they are a dribble drive team and the hospital Lakers

774
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:16,239
Speaker 1: last night provided the perfect opportunity. Like Luca was phenomenal

775
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:18,080
Speaker 1: in his first shift, and he was the main bright

776
00:36:18,080 --> 00:36:19,640
Speaker 1: spot for the Lakers. We'll talk a little bit about

777
00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:22,120
Speaker 1: Luca here in a minute, but he left his first

778
00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:24,120
Speaker 1: shift with the game tie twenty three to twenty three,

779
00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:25,799
Speaker 1: and then as soon as Luca went to the bench,

780
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:28,320
Speaker 1: the Spurs immediately went on a seven to zero run,

781
00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:31,600
Speaker 1: and basically we're able to stiff arm the Lakers from there.

782
00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:34,480
Speaker 1: The rest of the way. I thought the Spurs perimeter

783
00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:37,279
Speaker 1: defense was awesome all night. There were several guys that

784
00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:39,600
Speaker 1: are at least capable for the Lakers of hitting a

785
00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:41,879
Speaker 1: couple shots or getting something going, and they completely shut

786
00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:45,520
Speaker 1: that down. And then, honestly, like I thought, especially in

787
00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:48,960
Speaker 1: that first half watching the Lakers end of the bench,

788
00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:51,120
Speaker 1: guys like two way guys and dudes who are all

789
00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:53,600
Speaker 1: out of the rotation, like Mexic Klba not in the

790
00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:55,719
Speaker 1: rotation for the Lakers when he's healthy, Dalton Connect not

791
00:36:55,760 --> 00:36:58,240
Speaker 1: in the rotation for the Lakers when he's healthy, even

792
00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:01,759
Speaker 1: you know, Nick Smith, junior two way guy, even Gabe

793
00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:03,960
Speaker 1: Vincent is arguably going to be on the fringe of

794
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,520
Speaker 1: the rotation when this team is put together and healthy.

795
00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:09,399
Speaker 1: Watching that group of guys trying to score on Victor

796
00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:13,080
Speaker 1: Webbin Yama was legitimately hilarious, and I thought Wemby was

797
00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:15,200
Speaker 1: fantastic all game, especially in the second half when he

798
00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:17,440
Speaker 1: got more minutes against the starting groups for the Lakers,

799
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:22,000
Speaker 1: Like he kicked Deandrayton's ass, and he kicked DeAndre Ayton's

800
00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:24,439
Speaker 1: ass so bad that it got me thinking a little

801
00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:26,600
Speaker 1: bit about Lakers roster construction stuff, which we'll get to

802
00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:29,560
Speaker 1: in a minute. The hero of the game for the Spurs, though,

803
00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:33,000
Speaker 1: was Keldon Johnson. All series are, all season long, I

804
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:36,080
Speaker 1: should say he's provided like this bully ball element for

805
00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:38,799
Speaker 1: the Spurs, not even just on drives, because drives are

806
00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:41,000
Speaker 1: the story of last night's game, but off ball is

807
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:44,360
Speaker 1: a cutter and as an offensive rebounder, as a defensive

808
00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:46,920
Speaker 1: rebounder as well. He's just been like an athletic super

809
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:50,240
Speaker 1: weapon for this team. But last night he was the drives.

810
00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,759
Speaker 1: His eyes lit up whenever he saw a Laker guard

811
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:57,360
Speaker 1: in front of him, especially Gabe Vincent, who was his

812
00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:02,600
Speaker 1: primary target. Just repeated the relentlessly, like almost like angry,

813
00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:05,600
Speaker 1: going at Gabe every single time he got an opportunity.

814
00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:08,879
Speaker 1: Even when he scored, he would look pissed off, like, oh,

815
00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:13,400
Speaker 1: like angry that it was even an option that the

816
00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:16,040
Speaker 1: Lakers would leave someone like that one on one against

817
00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:18,719
Speaker 1: Keldon Johnson on an island. He was like insulted and

818
00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:20,480
Speaker 1: just wanted to take it out on the Lakers every

819
00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:23,560
Speaker 1: single time down the floor. Twenty seven points for Keldon

820
00:38:23,600 --> 00:38:26,680
Speaker 1: Johnson plus fourteen in twenty eight minutes. A nice win

821
00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:28,920
Speaker 1: for the Spurs to get back on track again with

822
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:30,600
Speaker 1: a couple of guys of their own out of the

823
00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:32,600
Speaker 1: lineup with injury and Victor women Yama is still on

824
00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:33,480
Speaker 1: a minute's restriction.

825
00:38:34,120 --> 00:38:35,640
Speaker 2: You know. Sometimes I was thinking.

826
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:37,720
Speaker 1: About this specifically with Luca, because Luca had been playing

827
00:38:37,719 --> 00:38:41,440
Speaker 1: really poorly with against tougher competition, and he started to

828
00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:43,400
Speaker 1: show some signs in the second half of the Sunday

829
00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:45,360
Speaker 1: game against Memphis and then in the second half of

830
00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:48,120
Speaker 1: the Pelicans game on Tuesday, where you're like, oh, like,

831
00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:50,520
Speaker 1: Luca seems to have got a little bit of his

832
00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:54,000
Speaker 1: groove back. I think sometimes you need to face a

833
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:58,080
Speaker 1: weaker opponent to get your confidence back, and this is

834
00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:01,640
Speaker 1: a Spurs team that legitimate looked shook over the last

835
00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:04,320
Speaker 1: couple of weeks as they were struggling with some pretty

836
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:08,319
Speaker 1: mediocre competition. And several of their players looked. You could

837
00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:12,080
Speaker 1: like literally see it in their like countenance. You could

838
00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:15,200
Speaker 1: see that they had lost some of their confidence. And

839
00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:19,239
Speaker 1: sometimes it helps against a lesser opponent to have a

840
00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:22,160
Speaker 1: night where you go, oh, yeah, I can do this.

841
00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:25,799
Speaker 1: And I think that for the Spurs last night, just

842
00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:28,600
Speaker 1: having a Laker team that was incapable of guarding them

843
00:39:28,600 --> 00:39:32,320
Speaker 1: on the perimeter, Like seeing Steph Cassel comfortably get wherever

844
00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:35,840
Speaker 1: he wanted to on the floor, seeing Calden Johnson comfortably

845
00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:38,520
Speaker 1: get wherever he wanted to on the floor, getting an

846
00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:40,799
Speaker 1: opportunity for a guy like Jeremy Soon to knock down

847
00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:43,600
Speaker 1: some shots when Lucas leaving him wide open. There were

848
00:39:43,640 --> 00:39:45,840
Speaker 1: just a lot of opportunities last night for the Spurs

849
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:47,839
Speaker 1: to get some confidence back, and I thought last night's

850
00:39:47,840 --> 00:39:50,320
Speaker 1: win was a good step in the right direction for them.

851
00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:53,960
Speaker 1: Really quick on the Lakers, just two quick thoughts. I

852
00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:56,520
Speaker 1: have been critical of Luca in the past against good

853
00:39:56,560 --> 00:40:00,279
Speaker 1: teams for not setting the tone early healthy version the

854
00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:03,480
Speaker 1: Lakers against good teams, where Luca comes out in the

855
00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:07,360
Speaker 1: first shift and has like five turnovers in the first quarter,

856
00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:11,280
Speaker 1: or misses a bunch of bad pull up jump shots,

857
00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:12,960
Speaker 1: in the first quarter and then the Lakers are down

858
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:15,239
Speaker 1: by ten, and it just seems to like infect the

859
00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:17,160
Speaker 1: team with the lack of belief and energy, and then

860
00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:19,480
Speaker 1: they struggle for the rest of the night. And I've

861
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:22,319
Speaker 1: talked about how like the Lakers need Luca to set

862
00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:24,799
Speaker 1: the tone. He's the top tier superstar. He's the guy

863
00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:27,040
Speaker 1: that is arguably the second best player in the world

864
00:40:27,239 --> 00:40:30,319
Speaker 1: when he's at his best. They need him to come

865
00:40:30,320 --> 00:40:33,279
Speaker 1: out and be like, no, I'm gonna get us a three, four,

866
00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:36,480
Speaker 1: five point lead early, infect the team.

867
00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:40,160
Speaker 2: With belief so that it.

868
00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:41,040
Speaker 1: Kind of trickles down to every phase of the game,

869
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:43,040
Speaker 1: and the Lakers play their best basketball and they have

870
00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:45,840
Speaker 1: their best chance against the good teams. Last night I

871
00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:48,920
Speaker 1: thought was an example of that. I thought Luca from

872
00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:51,480
Speaker 1: the opening tip last night came out and was unbelievable.

873
00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:53,560
Speaker 1: I thought his first half was maybe his best half

874
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:56,719
Speaker 1: of the entire season. And like I had a lot

875
00:40:56,760 --> 00:41:00,200
Speaker 1: of Luca fans in previous weeks be like, why are

876
00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:03,640
Speaker 1: you blaming Luca when Lebron's doing this or Austin's doing that,

877
00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:06,080
Speaker 1: or the role players suck this, or the role players

878
00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:09,839
Speaker 1: suck that. And it's like I've watched Luca in those

879
00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:13,000
Speaker 1: games not do his job, and so I'm going to

880
00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:15,759
Speaker 1: lean on the guy who makes fifty plus million, who's

881
00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:18,040
Speaker 1: the best, one of the top two or three players

882
00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:19,960
Speaker 1: in the world, as the guy who's most equipped to

883
00:41:19,960 --> 00:41:22,440
Speaker 1: directed by the situation. Last night would have been one

884
00:41:22,440 --> 00:41:24,800
Speaker 1: of those times for you guys to talk about everybody else, because,

885
00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:27,360
Speaker 1: like I genuinely thought, the rest of the team just

886
00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:30,080
Speaker 1: straight up let Luca down. Other than Jake Larevia, I

887
00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:34,399
Speaker 1: don't think anybody played well. Jared Vanderbilt kind of had

888
00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:36,279
Speaker 1: one of his worst offensive games in a long time

889
00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:38,240
Speaker 1: last night. Just couldn't even catch a high post pass,

890
00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:40,960
Speaker 1: was turning the basketball over, couldn't make an open three.

891
00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:42,640
Speaker 2: There was the fouls too.

892
00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:45,960
Speaker 1: Like it I talked in the Lakers Collective pod yesterday

893
00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:47,719
Speaker 1: about how like when you're out of position all the time,

894
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:50,280
Speaker 1: it's why you commit fouls because you're late on rotations

895
00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,279
Speaker 1: or you're giving up too much of an angle on

896
00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:54,080
Speaker 1: a drive and now you're hacking the dude. And like

897
00:41:54,719 --> 00:41:57,520
Speaker 1: I just thought, from the opening tip, every non Luca

898
00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:00,759
Speaker 1: Laker was just completely unprepared for that game, and I

899
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:02,640
Speaker 1: thought it was kind of a waste because I thought

900
00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:05,640
Speaker 1: Luca really came out and played so great that it

901
00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:07,640
Speaker 1: gave the Lakers a chance. And I thought it was

902
00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:10,080
Speaker 1: just a botch shot from the rest of the team,

903
00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:13,240
Speaker 1: not two shocking considering how many of their good players

904
00:42:13,239 --> 00:42:15,799
Speaker 1: were missing. But you get even just a little bit

905
00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:17,360
Speaker 1: more from some of those guys and you have a

906
00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:19,480
Speaker 1: really good chance to win that game. So the point

907
00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:22,640
Speaker 1: there is Luca looks to be trending in a really

908
00:42:22,640 --> 00:42:25,320
Speaker 1: positive direction. I think he's been great in his last

909
00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:28,000
Speaker 1: three games. I think that's an encouraging sign because I

910
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:29,960
Speaker 1: didn't think he was very good in the previous weeks.

911
00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:32,120
Speaker 1: So it looks like lucas starting to dig himself out

912
00:42:32,120 --> 00:42:36,400
Speaker 1: of his slump. Lastly, the starting center spot Deandreton got

913
00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:37,760
Speaker 1: his ass kicked by victory woman.

914
00:42:37,560 --> 00:42:38,279
Speaker 2: Yama last night.

915
00:42:39,680 --> 00:42:42,440
Speaker 1: Deandreyton in general, in the last month or so has

916
00:42:42,480 --> 00:42:44,920
Speaker 1: gotten his ass kicks by every quality starting center that

917
00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:50,400
Speaker 1: he's run into, and it got me thinking, you know,

918
00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:52,319
Speaker 1: we've been looking at the Lakers as a team that, like,

919
00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:55,879
Speaker 1: you know, Luca and Austin's your backcourt, you know, you're

920
00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:58,759
Speaker 1: either gonna have Rui as your future for or like

921
00:42:58,800 --> 00:43:01,360
Speaker 1: somebody that you trade Rue is a future three. I

922
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:03,919
Speaker 1: think there's been some question mark surrounding Rui's fit with Luca,

923
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:06,920
Speaker 1: so maybe that's not the case. But in the long term,

924
00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:09,680
Speaker 1: you need who's your starting three next to Luca for

925
00:43:09,719 --> 00:43:12,040
Speaker 1: the years to come. Who's your starting four next to

926
00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:14,920
Speaker 1: Luca for the years to come, And I think it's

927
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:17,279
Speaker 1: pretty clear at this point that Ayton is not the

928
00:43:17,320 --> 00:43:20,080
Speaker 1: starting five for years to come. I actually do think

929
00:43:20,120 --> 00:43:22,600
Speaker 1: Jackson's been pretty good and I think he's fine as

930
00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:24,680
Speaker 1: a backup center. I think he's fine as a backup

931
00:43:24,719 --> 00:43:26,560
Speaker 1: center in a way that he wasn't last year, as

932
00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:30,279
Speaker 1: he was completely unplayable against Minnesota. Right, So Jackson's fine

933
00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:31,880
Speaker 1: as a backup center. You know, you take it or

934
00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:33,839
Speaker 1: leave it at that. I think Jackson would be smart

935
00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:36,680
Speaker 1: to stay with the Lakers. He's just great fit with Luca.

936
00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:40,280
Speaker 1: But I now look at this deadline and the future

937
00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:44,200
Speaker 1: three trade cycles as a cycle where the Lakers need

938
00:43:44,200 --> 00:43:45,800
Speaker 1: to look for who their starting center is going to

939
00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:48,120
Speaker 1: be for the future. And the starting center can be

940
00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:50,080
Speaker 1: such a floor razer for your team, as an elite

941
00:43:50,120 --> 00:43:52,200
Speaker 1: defensive rebounder, as a guy that can protect the rim

942
00:43:52,200 --> 00:43:53,880
Speaker 1: on defense, as a guy that has some ability to

943
00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:56,120
Speaker 1: switch out onto the perimeter as a guy that is

944
00:43:56,200 --> 00:43:59,160
Speaker 1: a vertical spacer for Luca. And so now I start

945
00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:00,960
Speaker 1: to look at it and it's like, maybe you do

946
00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:04,160
Speaker 1: need to start canvassing the league for a starting center.

947
00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:06,839
Speaker 1: Maybe you do need to call up Brooklyn and see

948
00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:10,680
Speaker 1: if you can grab an athlete and a guy.

949
00:44:10,560 --> 00:44:11,520
Speaker 2: Like a Nick Claxton.

950
00:44:11,760 --> 00:44:13,920
Speaker 1: Maybe you do have to call up at Utah and

951
00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:16,200
Speaker 1: see if you can get a guy like Walker Kessler.

952
00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:21,000
Speaker 1: This is the type of situation that has come to

953
00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:25,600
Speaker 1: has become pretty clear in recent weeks. Like DeAndre Ayton,

954
00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:28,319
Speaker 1: He's certainly better than what the Lakers have had in

955
00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:30,840
Speaker 1: the past without Anthony Davis on the floor at the

956
00:44:30,880 --> 00:44:33,920
Speaker 1: center position. He certainly carries value in the short term.

957
00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:36,080
Speaker 1: Is a guy who can play minutes. But all I

958
00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:38,120
Speaker 1: could think last night is what if Victor women Yama

959
00:44:38,200 --> 00:44:40,920
Speaker 1: had to go for seven games over two weeks against Victor,

960
00:44:41,360 --> 00:44:45,160
Speaker 1: against Nicola Jokic, against if it's a Zubots against Chet

961
00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:47,880
Speaker 1: Holmern and Isaiah Hartenstein, I just think it would be

962
00:44:48,360 --> 00:44:50,680
Speaker 1: a too much of a deficit for the Lakers to overcome.

963
00:44:50,719 --> 00:44:52,600
Speaker 1: So just get it kind of changed my perspective regarding

964
00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:54,799
Speaker 1: the Lakers at the trade deadline this year. All Right, guys,

965
00:44:54,840 --> 00:44:56,480
Speaker 1: it's all I have for today is always a sincerely

966
00:44:56,520 --> 00:44:58,560
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys for supporting us, in supporting the show again.

967
00:44:58,560 --> 00:45:00,360
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to get to those other games tomorrow's

968
00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:00,799
Speaker 1: mail bag.

969
00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:02,000
Speaker 2: I'll see you guys then.

970
00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:09,719
Speaker 1: H