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Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to hoops tonight here at

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Speaker 1: the Volume. Happy Sunday, everybody. We are live from the

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Speaker 1: Blue Wires Studios at the Win here in Vegas. Victor

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Speaker 1: wembin Yama has a much much better second game. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna be breaking that down. I also have some thoughts

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Speaker 1: on Jabari Smith Junior has been arguably the most impressive

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Speaker 1: second year guy that we've seen at Summer League so far.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna make the case for why a team should

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Speaker 1: consider going after Dame despite the situation with the Miami Heat,

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Speaker 1: and I have a specific team in mind that I

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Speaker 1: think would become a top tier contender overnight as a result.

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Speaker 1: And then, last, but not least, I have some thoughts

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Speaker 1: on Joel Embiid's comments surrounding James Harden and his trade requests.

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Speaker 1: You guys know the drip before we get started. Subscribe

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Speaker 1: to the Volumes YouTube channels. You don't miss any more

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

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Speaker 1: lt so you don't miss any show announcements. And for

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Speaker 1: whatever reason, you guys, miss one of these shows and

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Speaker 1: you can't get back over to YouTube to finish, don't forget.

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Speaker 1: You can find them wherever you get your podcasts under

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Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight, and last but not least, before we get started.

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Speaker 1: It may be the best. It may be the basketball

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Speaker 1: off season, although we do have Summer League basketball, but

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Speaker 1: there's no shortage of events out there to attend, from

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Speaker 1: Dead End Company on July sixteenth in San Francisco. I'm

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Speaker 1: super excited about that. Highly recommend it. One of the

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Speaker 1: last great jam bands out there. Got to get out

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Speaker 1: All right, let's talk some basketball. So Big Shock, the

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Speaker 1: amazing prospect who already had a successful professional career in France,

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Speaker 1: wasn't a bust based on one bad summer league game

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Speaker 1: that involved a whole lot of pickup style basketball and

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Speaker 1: not a whole lot of opportunity to show what Victor

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Speaker 1: was good at. So finishes with twenty seven points, twelve rebounds,

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Speaker 1: three blocks, probably would have had a chance to win

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Speaker 1: that game if some of his teammates had it looked

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Speaker 1: him off after he'd hit that late three point shot.

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Speaker 1: Was really really impressive on both ends of the floor,

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Speaker 1: especially as that game progressed. And what I wanted to

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Speaker 1: take a second to talk about today is the difference

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Speaker 1: between a player's floor and a player's ceiling, and why

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Speaker 1: it's important early in a career to give a player

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Speaker 1: an opportunity to demonstrate what he's great at while he's

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Speaker 1: working on the things that he's not particularly great at.

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Speaker 1: We talked about this was Shade and Sharp yesterday. If

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Speaker 1: you guys remember, Shade and Sharp has this unbelievable superpower,

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Speaker 1: and it's the fact that he's one of the most

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Speaker 1: athletic two guards to ever set foot on an NBA floor,

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Speaker 1: and so it's important with the way that he's utilized

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Speaker 1: on a basketball team that he gets to showcase that

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Speaker 1: particular gift. And so everything turned around for him in

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Speaker 1: that game when he started attacking the rim with his strength, size,

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Speaker 1: and athleticism and elevating over the top of defenders in

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Speaker 1: jump shooting situations, Big shock. He got to use his superpower,

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Speaker 1: and good things immediately started happening. Your floor is the

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Speaker 1: weapons that you bring to the fight. Your ceiling is

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Speaker 1: about your weaknesses, and if you can round out those

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Speaker 1: weaknesses and fix those things, that's when you become the

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Speaker 1: best version of yourself as a basketball player. Let's take

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Speaker 1: Lebron James for example. This is the last great prospect

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Speaker 1: that was at the same level of someone like Victor

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Speaker 1: Webbin Yama, an all time great NBA prospect. When he

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Speaker 1: was coming into the league. He had a lot of

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Speaker 1: weaknesses too, but he had these strengths. He had these

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Speaker 1: unbelievable tools. He had this ridiculous physical frame for a wing.

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Speaker 1: He was an incredible downhill threat, especially in transition. No

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Speaker 1: one could keep him away from the rim. And then

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Speaker 1: he was a super gifted playmaker. He just naturally saw

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Speaker 1: the floor better than everyone else, and so in Cleveland,

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Speaker 1: when he was in the open floor, you got to

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Speaker 1: see all of those things. When he was attacking the rim,

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Speaker 1: you got to see all of those things and watch

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Speaker 1: him spray out to shooters and make things happen within

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Speaker 1: the Cavs offense. But he wasn't a great defensive player

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Speaker 1: right away. Even though he had great defensive tools and

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Speaker 1: the versatility to potentially guard multiple positions in the future,

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Speaker 1: he wasn't a very good shooter, and that was a

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Speaker 1: limitation for him. Didn't really have a low post game,

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Speaker 1: so he had to polish those things to reach his

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Speaker 1: eventual ceiling. When we talked about Lebron James as a

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Speaker 1: prospect in his capability of getting to the conversations with

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Speaker 1: Michael Jordan, it wasn't because of what he was when

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Speaker 1: he was eighteen. It was because of what we thought

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Speaker 1: he could become through hard work and effort over the

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Speaker 1: course of the following half decade. That's the same thing

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Speaker 1: with Victor Wembinyama. Victor Wenbnyama is not Kevin Garnett yet.

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Speaker 1: Victor wen Minyama. He's has catered, he's kind of shaped

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Speaker 1: his game around the Kevin Durant mold. He's not Kevin

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Speaker 1: Durant yet. That's gonna take years of hard work and

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Speaker 1: dedication and experience in learning how to score against NBA defenses.

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Speaker 1: He's not there yet. So if you're expecting to see

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant in Summer League, that's a you problem, not

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Speaker 1: a Victor problem. Your expectations are off. Victor has ridiculous

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Speaker 1: weapons that he brings to the table right now. He

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Speaker 1: has the best combination of height, length, and coordination in

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Speaker 1: the history of the league. We've had really tall players

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Speaker 1: come out, none of them that can move the way

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Speaker 1: that Victor moves. He's already a top tier defensive player.

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Speaker 1: He's got really good hands and can catch a finish

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Speaker 1: around the rim. He's got a respectable jump shot. Didn't

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Speaker 1: shoot particularly well overall last year, but he shot forty

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Speaker 1: percent on uncontested catch and shoots last year. That's a

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Speaker 1: reliable If he's standing still and has time to load

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Speaker 1: up into his form, that shit's going in and shot.

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Speaker 1: And he got a three on the left wing at

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Speaker 1: the end of this game today that he knocked down,

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Speaker 1: so he's already good at that. And then he's got

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Speaker 1: a decent turnaround jump shot over both shoulders, particularly his

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Speaker 1: right shoulder. So he's got some tools already. And so

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Speaker 1: as long as his game is catered around those particular things,

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Speaker 1: he's gonna look great. But yeah, if you toss the

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Speaker 1: ball to him on the wing like they did in

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Speaker 1: the first game and ask him to mix dudes up

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Speaker 1: off the dribble, ask him to be Kevin Durant, obviously

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Speaker 1: he's not going to be successful in that setting. Today,

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Speaker 1: he played to his strengths. He took the vast majority

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Speaker 1: of his shots within fifteen feet of the rim. He

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Speaker 1: was attacking the offensive glass. He had four offensive rebounds,

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Speaker 1: got to the foul line a ton because guess what,

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Speaker 1: and when he catches and tries to finish within ten

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Speaker 1: feet of the rim, people who try to block him

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Speaker 1: aren't gonna get the ball, They're gonna get his arm.

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Speaker 1: And so he got to the foul line a ton.

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Speaker 1: And then I thought, you saw a really interesting sequence

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Speaker 1: from Victor Wmenyama at the end of this game that

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Speaker 1: demonstrated an immediate ceiling for him and an immediate level

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Speaker 1: of impact that's going to help the Spurs win games

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Speaker 1: this season. They go down the floor, they set a

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Speaker 1: ball screen with Victor. He gets a switch. Ball handler

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Speaker 1: dribbles over to the right wing. Victor relocates to the

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Speaker 1: dunker spot on the left side. The ball handlers kind

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Speaker 1: of dribble in there, waiting for Victor to make himself available.

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Speaker 1: He hard flashes to the middle of the floor, calls

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Speaker 1: for the ball with two hands, catches hits. The guy

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Speaker 1: turns over his right shoulder knocks down a little short

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Speaker 1: jump shot. That's a legitimate skill that he's gonna be

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Speaker 1: able to do right away in the NBA, and that

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Speaker 1: is going to beat switching schemes. You can't switch Victor.

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Speaker 1: You can't switch a small guard onto Victor, because he's

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Speaker 1: just going to flash high post and turn and shoot

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Speaker 1: a little jumper over his right shoulder, and he's gonna

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Speaker 1: make it all the time. That's a weapon that he

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Speaker 1: can use right now. Very next possession, ball is being

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Speaker 1: dribbled up along the left wing. Someone attacks along the baseline.

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Speaker 1: Victor relocates to the left wing. Why because the rim

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Speaker 1: protector for Portland is containing the ball at the rim,

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Speaker 1: which is going to be what a lot of centers

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Speaker 1: do this year. They're going to be a lot of

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Speaker 1: possessions where different players for San Antonio are trying to

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Speaker 1: make things happen, and the rim protector is occupied and

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Speaker 1: Victor is going to be open. He relocates to that

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Speaker 1: left wing, takes his time, rises up, and knocks down

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Speaker 1: to catch and shoot three. He's great at that right now,

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Speaker 1: and so in this particular game, they funneled him into

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Speaker 1: the things that he was great at. He got to

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Speaker 1: demonstrate those things. He was great on the glass, he

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Speaker 1: protected the rim, he got three blocks, had a huge

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Speaker 1: clutch block there by the right block, beat a mismatch

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Speaker 1: in the post on a pick and roll switch, popping

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Speaker 1: to the three point line and knocking down shots, catching

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Speaker 1: close to the basket and getting to the foul line

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Speaker 1: or finishing closer to the rim. He showed some of

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Speaker 1: the high level stuff. You saw the crazy crossover jumper

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Speaker 1: he had in the first half. He's going to do

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Speaker 1: some of that, but that's not his strength right now.

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Speaker 1: That's the ceiling we need to when we're evaluating prospects.

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Speaker 1: We need to differentiate between those two things. Their floor

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Speaker 1: is what they're great at right now. Their ceiling is

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Speaker 1: about their weakness, and if you're evaluating a player based

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Speaker 1: on their weaknesses at that point, you're just going to

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Speaker 1: be disappointed. They're kids, They're eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old.

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Speaker 1: It's going to take time for them to develop those things.

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Speaker 1: I did want to talk about Javary Smith Junior for

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Speaker 1: a second, because I think he's been one of the

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Speaker 1: most interesting and probably the most impressive prospect that I've

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Speaker 1: seen in this particular tournament, and even counting the guys

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Speaker 1: that I saw last week. Really fun gaming against the Pistons.

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Speaker 1: James Wiseman hits like a little left handed hook over

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Speaker 1: the top, just starts talking all kinds of shit, and

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Speaker 1: Jabari just absolutely barbecues him all over the floor. You

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Speaker 1: guys saw himIt that step back three and he turns

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Speaker 1: around and he's like, he can't hold me, you know

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Speaker 1: that kind of thing. Obviously, that's fun, just as a

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Speaker 1: basketball fantasy. Guys competing like that finishes with thirty eight,

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Speaker 1: seven and six hits an array of pull up jump shot,

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Speaker 1: just pull up jump shot after pull up jump shot

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Speaker 1: from all these different spots on the floor. It really

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Speaker 1: blows me away because I was here last year, and

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Speaker 1: you know, there was a lot of talk over whether

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Speaker 1: or not Jabari Smith was going to be the number

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Speaker 1: one overall And one of the big reasons why he

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Speaker 1: slipped is he was so uncomfortable putting the ball on

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Speaker 1: the floor. He was so uncomfortable looking to score unless

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Speaker 1: he was catching and shooting from you know, above the

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Speaker 1: break on the three point line. When he was in college,

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Speaker 1: he was one of the most uncomfortable lottery picks when

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Speaker 1: it came to trying to score the basketball that I

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Speaker 1: can remember seeing. And for him to come back this

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Speaker 1: year and to look like the most comfortable player on

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Speaker 1: the floor, I don't think people realize how much hard

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Speaker 1: work that takes. When it comes to your jump shot

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Speaker 1: in your handle, progress is incremental. You shoot thousands of

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Speaker 1: shots a week and you get a little better. So

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Speaker 1: what this tells me is that Jabari's been in the

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Speaker 1: gym and he's been working his ass off. And when

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Speaker 1: you couple that with his physical tools. He's six foot ten,

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Speaker 1: he has a seven to one wing span. Look at

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Speaker 1: all that muscle he put on. He was bullying Jad

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Speaker 1: and Ivy to get to spots all over the floor today.

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Speaker 1: But he's demonstrating that he has the work ethic to

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Speaker 1: go with it. I went back to look, as you

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Speaker 1: guys know, I didn't cover Houston super closely last year

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Speaker 1: because we primarily focus on the top half of the league.

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Speaker 1: But he actually hit forty five percent an effective field

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Speaker 1: goal percentage on his pull up jump shots last year.

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Speaker 1: On volume, he shot one hundred and ninety five of

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Speaker 1: them and he made forty five percent effective field goal percentage.

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Speaker 1: That's what makes him a super interesting top tier prospect

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Speaker 1: because with Paulo, it's all about you're worried about the

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Speaker 1: defensive end. With chet it's like it's he's a big man.

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Speaker 1: How much is he going to be able to be

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Speaker 1: an offensive initiator? Is he going to be able to

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Speaker 1: stay healthy? Jabari Smith has that elite two way wing

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Speaker 1: potential and that particular archetype is one of the most

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Speaker 1: impactful archetypes that we have in the league. So shout

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Speaker 1: out to Jabari Smith Junior. I was really impressed with him.

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Speaker 1: I think I don't think people realize how hard he

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Speaker 1: had to work to make that type of improvement in

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Speaker 1: just twelve months. All right. I wanted to move to

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Speaker 1: this Dame Damian Lillar's situation. I talked about this a

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Speaker 1: little bit with Live yesterday, and it's become a hot

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Speaker 1: topic guys of late because of this idea of players

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Speaker 1: signing a long term extension. Right, they signed a five

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Speaker 1: year deal worth two hundred something mill and then one

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Speaker 1: or two years into it they ask for a trade.

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Speaker 1: We've seen a lot of this recently, Right, We've just

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Speaker 1: seen it with Dame, we saw it with Kevin Durant.

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Speaker 1: That this is not exactly the most uncommon situation in

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Speaker 1: the world. And these are big names. These are top ten,

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Speaker 1: top fifteen players in the league that are making these

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Speaker 1: types of moves, And it is a complicated situation. As

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Speaker 1: I always say, you have to put your family first

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Speaker 1: when you're making decisions, as especially as a primary breadwinner

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Speaker 1: in your family, like these guys are. You have to

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Speaker 1: put that first. So let's say you come to free

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Speaker 1: agency and you're with your team, and you like your team,

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Speaker 1: and you're committed to your team, but like, five years

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Speaker 1: is a long time. I guarantee you all these dudes,

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Speaker 1: if you really ask them when they're going through these negotiations,

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Speaker 1: like are you sure you want to be here in

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Speaker 1: five years, They'll all say no. Like maybe the rare

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Speaker 1: examples like Steph Curry and Golden State, right, like, there

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Speaker 1: are gonna be guys that are remarkably loyal to their

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Speaker 1: French but hey, big shot, Golden State's one of the

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Speaker 1: most competent franchises in the NBA. But you have to

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Speaker 1: take the money. If you really ask these dudes, they'll say, eh,

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Speaker 1: I'm committed, but one to two years from now. Who

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Speaker 1: knows they're not going to sign a two year deal

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Speaker 1: their bodies. All it takes is one awkward landing, and

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Speaker 1: now that money's gone, you've got to protect yourself. You've

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Speaker 1: got to take the deal. But there's an ugly side

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Speaker 1: of it. And the ugly side of it in particular

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Speaker 1: is that I only want to go there now. We

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Speaker 1: have a show that we're doing later tonight with mister

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Speaker 1: Colin Coward, and well, I want to pick his brain

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Speaker 1: on this, particularly because he's just been around sports for

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Speaker 1: so long, he's seen so many of these dynamics. But

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Speaker 1: it is an ugly look. It's not good when you've

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Speaker 1: got agents leaking that he's calling other teams and telling

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Speaker 1: them he'll be unhappy if he goes there. It doesn't

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Speaker 1: help it all It doesn't help at all. If you've

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Speaker 1: got the agent saying he's not going to report to

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Speaker 1: training camp, that's a bad look. But at the end

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Speaker 1: of the day, it is just posturing. Do you guys

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Speaker 1: remember the Why Leonard situation, All the same things were said,

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Speaker 1: He's not going to show up to camp, doesn't want

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Speaker 1: to go anywhere. But La, you're making a mistake if

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Speaker 1: you trade for this guy. But if you are a

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Speaker 1: competent NBA organization and you bring him in, you have

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Speaker 1: the opportunity to win him over. Kawhi Leonard played some

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Speaker 1: of the best bat arguably the very best basketball of

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Speaker 1: his career in a Toronto Raptors jersey because they put

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Speaker 1: their they put themselves out there. Now, did they lose

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Speaker 1: him in free agency, Yes, but the Damian Lillard situation

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Speaker 1: in particular has a lot of years left on the

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Speaker 1: deal and Kawhi Leonard was very devoted while he was

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Speaker 1: in Toronto. So what I would like to see is

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Speaker 1: I would like to see a team get into the

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Speaker 1: sweepstakes here and allow them the opportunity to prove to

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Speaker 1: Dame that they're a worthwhile destination and a team that

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Speaker 1: can help him reach his ultimate basketball seiling. So I

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Speaker 1: have a specific team in mind, and that team is

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Speaker 1: the Oklahoma City Thunder. This team is already one of

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Speaker 1: my favorite teams in the league. Somebody that I very

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Speaker 1: much look forward to covering next year. I think Shay

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Speaker 1: Gills as alexand he is a top fifteen player in

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Speaker 1: the league. I have said this before, but I think

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Speaker 1: he's the North American player that has the best opportunity

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Speaker 1: to compete with guys like Jokic and Luka Doncic and

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Speaker 1: Jannison Tenna Kumpo over the course of the coming decade.

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Speaker 1: I think he's incredible. Lou Dort is one of the

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Speaker 1: very best defensive players in the league. Josh Giddy is

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Speaker 1: a super interesting high pick and roll shot creator with

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Speaker 1: this combination of size and the ability to pass the basketball.

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Speaker 1: Chet Holmgren was unbelievable yesterday. Alexei Polkoshewsky one of the

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Speaker 1: better young stretch big prospects in the league. They have

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Speaker 1: talent on top of talent on top of talent. We

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Speaker 1: don't even talk about Jaalen Williams, who was incredible when

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Speaker 1: he played in Summer League last week and has the

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Speaker 1: potential to be Jalen Brown with better playmaking. They are

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Speaker 1: already that talented. But as you know, what ends up

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Speaker 1: happening is you end up having to pay guys, and

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Speaker 1: more often than not, what you would determined to be

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Speaker 1: your window ends up being shorter than you think because

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Speaker 1: you got to extend this guy, you gotta extend that guy.

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Speaker 1: And then there's the cap ramifications, and then there's the

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Speaker 1: luxury tax apron, and there's all these different things that

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Speaker 1: can derail you in those situations. And so I'm a

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Speaker 1: big believer in taking risks and going after it. Adrian

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Speaker 1: wor Jonowski reported yesterday that the Oklahoma City Thunder have

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Speaker 1: thirty five draft picks between now and seven years from now,

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Speaker 1: including fifteen first round draft picks. They can get into

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Speaker 1: these sweepstakes without having to give up a young prospect.

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Speaker 1: We did some work this morning and put together a trade. Essentially,

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Speaker 1: the deal would be the Davas Berton's contract, Victor Oladipo,

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Speaker 1: Rudy Gay and David Nwaba in some number of first

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Speaker 1: round draft picks for Damian Lillard. In that situation, this

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Speaker 1: would be the lineup. You'd have Dame at point guard,

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Speaker 1: Shay At shooting guard, Lou Dort one of the best

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Speaker 1: perimeter defenders in the league at the three, Jalen william

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Speaker 1: is one of the best young forward prospects in the

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Speaker 1: league at the four, and Chet Holmgren one of the

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Speaker 1: best young rim protector, skilled A centers that we've had

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Speaker 1: as a prospect in years. Off the bench, they would

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Speaker 1: have Josh Getty, Trey Mann who was really impressive yesterday,

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Speaker 1: Kenrich Williams, a Lexipokeewski, and Jaylynn Williams. That is already

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Speaker 1: overnight one of the very one of the most talented

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Speaker 1: rosters in the league, with a veteran presence and dame

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Speaker 1: to top tier shot creators. A dude, you can throw

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Speaker 1: at the other team's best player in lou Dort, legitimate spacing,

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Speaker 1: tons of shooting all over the roster, tons of depth,

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Speaker 1: and you can do that without having to give up

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Speaker 1: a young player and still have I don't know, eight

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Speaker 1: or nine first round draft picks left in the next

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Speaker 1: seven years. Again, like Sam Presci's done an incredible job

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Speaker 1: putting together this roster, and he's done an incredible job

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Speaker 1: hoarding assets. But the ultimate goal is to win an

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Speaker 1: NBA championship, and you're right there. It's time to push

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Speaker 1: the Chips in so again, I don't think they're going

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Speaker 1: to do it, but they're my favorite candidate for a

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Speaker 1: team to get involved in the Dame Miami Heat sweepsticks

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Speaker 1: because a super interesting young team, one of my favorite

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Speaker 1: players in the league in Shay. That combination of young

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Speaker 1: ceiling but with that veteran presence that can push you

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Speaker 1: over the top in a league that is winnable right now,

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Speaker 1: with a ton of parody, with no team that has

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Speaker 1: an outrageous talent advantage. I would like to see the

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Speaker 1: Thunder go after him. Think that'd be a ton of fun. So, last,

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Speaker 1: but not least, Joel Embiid, asked about the James Harden situation,

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Speaker 1: says quote, I want him to come back, obviously, so

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Speaker 1: we can accomplish what we want, which is a championship.

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Speaker 1: Hopefully his mindset can be changed. This is a really

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Speaker 1: interesting situation to me because the problem with the James

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Speaker 1: Harden contract is there's no version of this story where

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Speaker 1: you trade him and you get positive value back. Your

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Speaker 1: team will become a worst basketball team as soon as

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Speaker 1: you pull the trigger on a James Harden trade. Now,

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Speaker 1: think back to what we saw in the Eastern Conference,

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Speaker 1: playoffs last year? How close was Philly really? Philly feels

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Speaker 1: like they're on a tier below the top tier championship contenders. Right,

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Speaker 1: you're Joel Embiid, You're in your mid twenties, you're one

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Speaker 1: of the top five to six players in the world.

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Speaker 1: You want to compete for championships. Going backwards is not

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Speaker 1: an option, And so I don't blame him, And I'm

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Speaker 1: really curious to see the way this plays out, because

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Speaker 1: if they can't convince James Harden to come back, the

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Speaker 1: Sixers are a lesser team than they were last year.

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Speaker 1: Why would Joel Embiid want to stick around for something

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Speaker 1: like that. It's something that It's something that I'd like

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Speaker 1: to keep my eye on. Again. I know we hate

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Speaker 1: the idea of the star players requesting trades and the

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Speaker 1: fan bases hate it and it feels like it's fantasy basketball.

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Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, you're Joel Embiid.

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Speaker 1: You have an injury history, your needs, have had issues,

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Speaker 1: your feet, I've had issues. You can't afford to waste

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Speaker 1: time and running it back with James Harden flipped first

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Speaker 1: salary filler is a waste of time for what talent

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Speaker 1: Joel Embiid brings to the table, so for his sake,

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Speaker 1: for Joel Embiid's sake, I hope they can work it

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Speaker 1: out with James Harden and give him a legitimate chance

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Speaker 1: to compete next year. All right, guys, that is all

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Speaker 1: I have for right now. We'll move back later tonight

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Speaker 1: with mister con Coward, and we have a bunch of

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Speaker 1: interesting stuff to get into. I will see you guys

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Speaker 1: then