Speaker 1: The volume. Hi, everybody, welcome in. You're either watching this
Speaker 1: on YouTube on Sunday night or listening. As we retweeted
Speaker 1: on Monday morning, Jason timf and I have I think
Speaker 1: our best forty five minute NBA discussion on Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: and the Celtics thrashing of the Sixers. We talk about
Speaker 1: Lakers and Denver. We talk about the Warriors future. So
Speaker 1: we'll get to that in about five minutes. I do
Speaker 1: want to start with the news on John Morant, and
Speaker 1: for a second time, on his Instagram there's a picture
Speaker 1: of him with a gun. If you look, every statistic
Speaker 1: will tell you this. Young men make more poor decisions
Speaker 1: than any other demographic in the country, far more than
Speaker 1: young women, old women, middle aged men, older men, young men,
Speaker 1: and so one of the dilemmas has been young men
Speaker 1: tend to be more unmeeedable or vulnerable to poor choices,
Speaker 1: especially when they choose the wrong friends or the wrong
Speaker 1: groups to hang out with. So one of the issues
Speaker 1: the NBA is very aware of is the Ja Morant issue.
Speaker 1: Whereas an NFL player comes in and he's red shirted,
Speaker 1: he's twenty three years old. Often they're married in college
Speaker 1: or right when they get out of it into the NFL,
Speaker 1: you're dealing with an adult. There is a big gap
Speaker 1: between a nineteen year old male and a twenty three
Speaker 1: year old male. That four years when you're forty eight
Speaker 1: to fifty two doesn't matter, but it matters a lot.
Speaker 1: Young men tend to mature more slowly than young women.
Speaker 1: So the NBA gets these really really really great, young
Speaker 1: talented people at nineteen years old. They can't even drink
Speaker 1: in the hotel bar they stay in, and they're thrust
Speaker 1: on the spotlight in the star driven sport. Shoe companies, fame, Instagram, girls' money.
Speaker 1: And I am not saying in any way John Morant
Speaker 1: isn't culpable for his decisions. But I look at this
Speaker 1: as a failing of his shoe company. The organization goes
Speaker 1: close to him. Where's his support system? This doesn't come
Speaker 1: out of left field. In fact, this is his second incident.
Speaker 1: Is that we all know the problems with sports. We
Speaker 1: know that football has a regulated level of violence, so
Speaker 1: they're trying to make it safer. Less hitting in practice,
Speaker 1: less hitting above the shoulders. We know baseball they've changed
Speaker 1: rules to speed the pace of the game up. We know,
Speaker 1: one of the issues in the NBA is that players
Speaker 1: are miserable. You don't hear that much from football players
Speaker 1: because they come in the league more adult, They have
Speaker 1: a broader life, married kids, and they have shorter careers,
Speaker 1: so they come into the league with a much more
Speaker 1: serious mindset, whereas a guy comes into the league at
Speaker 1: nineteen years old and he looks and says, I can
Speaker 1: play this for fifteen, eighteen, twenty years, and so there's
Speaker 1: less urgency for a basketball player who knows he's going
Speaker 1: to have a longer career. So I think the league
Speaker 1: and teams and shoe companies have to do a better
Speaker 1: job of understanding that. I've never been in love with
Speaker 1: Jah Morant as a franchise player. He reminds me a
Speaker 1: lot of Derek Rose, where so much of his game
Speaker 1: is spectacular. You know, Michael Jordan would give you twenty
Speaker 1: four points a night on just medium range jumpers and
Speaker 1: then six to eight spectacular points. Patrick Mahomes gives you
Speaker 1: twenty two completions every Sunday that are easy stuff, curls,
Speaker 1: drag route screens, and then he gives you four to
Speaker 1: five jaw dropping plays. I always feel like with Derek
Speaker 1: Rose and John Morant, like eighty percent of their plays
Speaker 1: are spectacular. It's hard to last. You're crashing to the floor,
Speaker 1: You're challenging bigs at the rim. You got to give
Speaker 1: me twenty one points a night just waking up in
Speaker 1: the morning, rolling out of bed, mid range jumpers, easy laps.
Speaker 1: Jaws a wildly spectacular player. But I just don't know
Speaker 1: physically he and Dereck Rose. They're thin, they weigh one
Speaker 1: ninety or less. They crash to the floor, they challenge
Speaker 1: guys at the rim. I don't see them as guys
Speaker 1: for ten to twelve years. You can depend on physically,
Speaker 1: but the emotional stuff, this is hard go go back.
Speaker 1: I mean, when I was nineteen years old, I could
Speaker 1: never have handled one hundred million dollars. I wouldn't have
Speaker 1: known what to do. The fame, the girls. So I
Speaker 1: feel bad for Job Morant. He's not my favorite NBA
Speaker 1: player in terms of a franchise guy. But god, this
Speaker 1: is the second time with Jaw we've seen it before.
Speaker 1: That's why I have been on this for several years.
Speaker 1: The idea that college basketball is the enemy of the
Speaker 1: NBA is ludicrous. There is nothing wrong with going to college,
Speaker 1: being within a system on a college campus, being coached hard,
Speaker 1: being responsible, having to be more selfless. When Zion Williamson
Speaker 1: said I want to come back to duke, people shamed
Speaker 1: him now because of his body type. He may have
Speaker 1: been better served going to the pros because everybody was
Speaker 1: concerned about his torque and his speed and his body.
Speaker 1: But I don't know. I look at the Ja Morant situation.
Speaker 1: I am not saying he shouldn't be responsible, but I
Speaker 1: also think this has been something I've seen more than once.
Speaker 1: And you don't expect nineteen year olds to make great
Speaker 1: decisions when you empty everything fame, money, responsibility on them.
Speaker 1: It is a lot, a lot. Let's go to Jason
Speaker 1: Timp at the Volume hoops tonight. How great have the
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Speaker 2: To me, that game was pretty simple. The best player
Speaker 2: for the Sixers no showed, and the second best player,
Speaker 2: who's been kind of hot and cold anyways, also happened
Speaker 2: to be cold. And you're just not going to keep
Speaker 2: up with that super talented Celtics team unless you get
Speaker 2: good play out of your stars. And to me, that's
Speaker 2: pretty much all there is too. What were your thought
Speaker 2: What were your thoughts on that game?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean we can put the harden. You know,
Speaker 1: we've been we've been pretending that every trust hardened in
Speaker 1: the playoffs for a decade and this has always been like,
Speaker 1: like we've come to terms. Kirk Cousins probably has four
Speaker 1: or five more good years, but we've bailed on him.
Speaker 1: We do that football, you're not a big game player.
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton got that reputation very early in the NBA
Speaker 1: because so much of the league is optics and aesthetics.
Speaker 1: If we like your style, we keep believing you'll deliver forms.
Speaker 1: It's like Westbrook's not a playoff guy. Harden's not a
Speaker 1: playoff guy. And that style of play, which is you
Speaker 1: know and a Harden never took great care of himself.
Speaker 1: You age a really fast, right, there's a reason Lebron's
Speaker 1: still great. Rady at the end was still great. Kobe
Speaker 1: last game could be great. Your body treats you like
Speaker 1: you treat your body so hardened. You know, he was
Speaker 1: a he was a nightclub guy. That's fine with me.
Speaker 1: But what happens at the end of years this sport,
Speaker 1: which is incredibly taxing, there's just too many games. It's
Speaker 1: always been too taxing. That's why old NBA players in
Speaker 1: their fifties are all crouched over. It just beats them.
Speaker 1: The sport beats the hell out of you. So there
Speaker 1: should be about sixty five sixty eight games. And that's
Speaker 1: why load management, the analytics are now acknowledging these guys
Speaker 1: are playing too many games. It's not an excuse, it's
Speaker 1: the truth. So you know, Harden is aged very quickly,
Speaker 1: but also on a micro level within seasons, he ages
Speaker 1: very quickly. He doesn't have a lot left and that
Speaker 1: was in his prime, so you know he can be
Speaker 1: And I said this about a month ago. I said,
Speaker 1: he's really now kind of a role player. And what
Speaker 1: the role players do, like Jordan Poole, great night, bad night,
Speaker 1: good night, bad night, great night, bad night, bad night,
Speaker 1: that's a role player. You know, a d steph Lebron
Speaker 1: may pull back, but you don't get horrendous performances you
Speaker 1: do from a role player, and that's what that's what
Speaker 1: Harden is. So I think it's time to move on
Speaker 1: from James Harden. I love Maxi and beads there for
Speaker 1: the long term. Tobias Harris is fine. P J. Tucker
Speaker 1: is what he is. But I think, you know, in
Speaker 1: a way, I'm relieved we don't have to keep pretending
Speaker 1: we know what Harden is in Big Spot. It doesn't work.
Speaker 1: And Tatum also had his best game maybe as a pro.
Speaker 1: I mean, he that first half was like wow, it
Speaker 1: was mj ish, It was like Kobe at his best,
Speaker 1: and that let's not have recency bias. Every Celtic fan
Speaker 1: today was praying that Tatum showed up, So let's not
Speaker 1: pretend like that hasn't been an ongoing discussion, so but
Speaker 1: I was happy for him. He's a great player and
Speaker 1: his confidence kind of waivers at times. But that move
Speaker 1: he made at the end of the first half, when
Speaker 1: he moved to his left, it was like, Okay, that's
Speaker 1: like if he has has an eight second piece of
Speaker 1: video that defines him, it's like, that's a good one.
Speaker 2: You know, Tatum. I gained so much respect for him
Speaker 2: in this series because of how poorly things were going
Speaker 2: for him and his sticktuitiveness during it all. For how
Speaker 2: poorly he played to start Game six, to suddenly have
Speaker 2: those shots fall at the end of the game, and
Speaker 2: you could just tell it was like the weight of
Speaker 2: the world got lifted off of his shoulders, and I
Speaker 2: directly think that led to him playing with as much
Speaker 2: confidence as he did today. He's had a nightmare pull
Speaker 2: up jump shooting season. He shot twenty nine percent on
Speaker 2: pull up threes during the regular season. It's been a
Speaker 2: huge problem for him and to see that skill kind
Speaker 2: of come to fruition on the stage. I talked about
Speaker 2: this after Game six, but basketball can be such a
Speaker 2: mentally challenging sport because jump shooting, in particular when you're
Speaker 2: practicing it, like, I have no doubt that if Tatum
Speaker 2: is doing a shooting drill, he's hitting seventy seventy five
Speaker 2: percent of those shots. And then you get in a
Speaker 2: game and you're like, man, I'm one fourteen, I've paid
Speaker 2: my dues, I've done all the work, and these shots
Speaker 2: to start falling, and he just had the four to
Speaker 2: two to stick with it, and he kept going. I
Speaker 2: thought he exposed Joel Embiid as a one dimensional defender
Speaker 2: in this game with his ability to pull him out
Speaker 2: and switches and kill him on the perimeter. But by
Speaker 2: the way, something to gain appreciation for Anthony Davis, Like
Speaker 2: Embiid is considered a much better defender than Jokic, but
Speaker 2: he was a liability in this game because of his
Speaker 2: inability to defend on the perimeter exactly whereas Anthony Davis.
Speaker 2: It's like I'm switching on Steph Freakin Curry with the
Speaker 2: game on the line and getting back to back stops.
Speaker 2: As far as the Sixers go, I want to try
Speaker 2: to focus more on Embiid because I look at Harden
Speaker 2: as a supporting star. He helps run your offense, he
Speaker 2: helps get guys into their spots. He straight up stole
Speaker 2: two games in this series. I would argue you got
Speaker 2: more out of Harden than you could have hoped to
Speaker 2: get in this type of setting.
Speaker 1: Oh, no question. I mean that game the other night
Speaker 1: was his best game in the playoffs in eight years.
Speaker 1: That was a complete outlier for almost a decade exactly.
Speaker 2: And he had another one earlier in the series without Embiid.
Speaker 2: He so like I focus on Embiid, This is actually
Speaker 2: a crazy stat. Colin. Joel Embiid averaged five made field
Speaker 2: goals in the paint per game in this series. Nikola
Speaker 2: Jokic against the Suns averaged eleven made field goals in
Speaker 2: the paint. That to me, is the weak point in
Speaker 2: Joel Embiid's career. A skill set right now. He loves
Speaker 2: to hover around the free throw line and take jump shots.
Speaker 2: Even in those post up situations he'd get Joel, he'd
Speaker 2: get Al Horford back down five feet from the rim.
Speaker 2: Jokic is hitting you with that shoulder and going up
Speaker 2: with a hook shot that he's going to make seventy
Speaker 2: percent of the time. Embiid fall away and maybe fall
Speaker 2: on the ground and try to draw foul like he's
Speaker 2: taking a fade away jump shot instead of going up strong.
Speaker 2: That to me is the next step for Embiid. You know,
Speaker 2: it's funny we look at this series and we look
Speaker 2: at the Sixers moving forward, and to me, it's like
Speaker 2: the roster is great. They defended a lot better than
Speaker 2: I expected them to. Their supporting star did a lot
Speaker 2: tyres MAXI had big moments. Tobias Harris, I thought, did
Speaker 2: find your best player was not good enough and he
Speaker 2: simply has to be better. And that's that's really the
Speaker 2: only off season adjustment Philly needs to make is Joel
Speaker 2: Embiid needs to craft his game in a way that
Speaker 2: thrives in the physicality of this setting, and he's just
Speaker 2: yet to do so.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and when you know, Embiid also to your point,
Speaker 1: and Harden's always been like this. They can really kill
Speaker 1: ball movement. And you know jokicch you give him the ball,
Speaker 1: he has two or three set moves and he goes
Speaker 1: right to him. Embiid is a little more artist. He ponders,
Speaker 1: he puts the ball on the floor. And what happens
Speaker 1: is when Harden and Embiid are both cold, they don't
Speaker 1: move the ball. Everybody else just watches two cold shooters,
Speaker 1: whereas if Jokich is off, he's a great passer. He
Speaker 1: makes his mind up very quickly in most instances what
Speaker 1: to do with the ball. You know, I've said this
Speaker 1: before that more choices can often create more confusion. I mean,
Speaker 1: Jordan had like three stock moves, right, whereas sometimes you know,
Speaker 1: Kobe could be a bit more artist. He didn't have
Speaker 1: as many stock moves, and sometimes there were complaints that Kobe.
Speaker 1: Basically you were all staring at Kobe, right, You're just
Speaker 1: waiting for Kobe to do his thing. And so I
Speaker 1: think with Embiid, one of the things that always bothered
Speaker 1: me about his game is it can be ponderous and
Speaker 1: by the way he puts them all on the floor. Also,
Speaker 1: sometimes you know it's high school basketball. If you're a
Speaker 1: big guy, don't put the ball on the floor. Little
Speaker 1: guys can come and swat it. We saw that twice today.
Speaker 1: So I know he's great, but at times I feel
Speaker 1: like he's disruptive to the flow. I never feel that
Speaker 1: with Anthony Davis. You give Anthony the ball low, he's
Speaker 1: gonna shoot it. Now. He may square you up and
Speaker 1: turn to the basket, but he will attack yo kitch
Speaker 1: attacks and be ponders too much, and maybe if you
Speaker 1: put a stop clock, that's a confirmation biased to me
Speaker 1: because I've never loved his game, but I there are
Speaker 1: times I watched him in this series and I'm like,
Speaker 1: get him off the floor, let the young guys move
Speaker 1: the ball, especially when they got down. But you know
Speaker 1: he's MVP, so I lose the argument.
Speaker 2: There's a rhythm in flow to basketball. Anybody who's played
Speaker 2: at any level, even if you haven't played at any
Speaker 2: competitive level, you just play in your men's league or
Speaker 2: pick up around town, there's a rhythm in flow to basketball.
Speaker 2: And like, I was always blown away by how many
Speaker 2: people Warriors fans in particular, were like, hey, we got
Speaker 2: such great looks in Game six. I can't believe we
Speaker 2: were missing them. And I'm like, yeah, but that wasn't
Speaker 2: Warriors basketball. Warriors basketball was a motion offense where the
Speaker 2: ball's popping around and everyone's involved. And the Lakers made
Speaker 2: you go straight up high pick and roll with Steph
Speaker 2: Curry and now guys are standing around a lot. And
Speaker 2: when they're standing around a lot, then they catch and shoot.
Speaker 2: It's a totally different type of shot than when there's
Speaker 2: a rhythm and flow to the offense. And there's no
Speaker 2: doubt that stagnation, which is what I call anytime a
Speaker 2: player just holds on ponders and stares around for a while.
Speaker 2: But yeah, that's the thing, like Embiid has to start,
Speaker 2: you know. And he said this in his price or
Speaker 2: when he got the MVPs, like it's now my goals championships.
Speaker 2: That's great. So that means the next step for you
Speaker 2: is identify the things that are causing you problems in
Speaker 2: the postseason. You're not getting the same whistle that you
Speaker 2: normally get. A lot of these tough fallaway fifteen footers
Speaker 2: and shots that you take don't follow as high a
Speaker 2: percentage as they do in the regular season. You need
Speaker 2: to learn to play bullyball. These are you're the biggest
Speaker 2: dude on this floor. You should be. You should be
Speaker 2: getting ten to twelve short push shots and hook shots
Speaker 2: in every single game that you can make seventy percent of.
Speaker 2: That's the next step for him is he's got to
Speaker 2: build out the playoff bullyball skill set.
Speaker 1: We watched Boston pick the Sixers and the Bucks apart
Speaker 1: this year. We really did, so I'm interested to watch
Speaker 1: the Miami series. But you know, I went with Milwaukee
Speaker 1: and during the season, I think we said this multiple times,
Speaker 1: they have to reboot this roster. It's gotten old and
Speaker 1: slowly fast where they got old and slow against Miami.
Speaker 1: But I think if you look at Boston, if you
Speaker 1: look at the history of the NBA, it's baby steps.
Speaker 1: So the Celtics get to the finals and lose. You know,
Speaker 1: after watching him today, it's like, Okay, is this the
Speaker 1: natural progression that they get back to the Conference of
Speaker 1: the finals and now they face a Laker or a
Speaker 1: Denver team. Lakers don't quite have quite the depth of
Speaker 1: athletes in their prime. Denver hasn't been in that spot.
Speaker 1: Maybe Denver now loses in the finals then comes back
Speaker 1: next year. But when you watch the Celtics today, I
Speaker 1: did feel like, Okay, this team with Tatum delivered like
Speaker 1: this all right, this is the best team in basketball.
Speaker 1: That's what it felt like to me.
Speaker 2: It's all Tatum. Like I mean, I have thought this
Speaker 2: has been the most talented roster in the NBA the
Speaker 2: last two years, and I thought they got even more
Speaker 2: talented this summer adding Malcolm Brogden. Just with all the
Speaker 2: players on the roster getting a little bit better incrementally
Speaker 2: as they do as they grow. But it's the bottom
Speaker 2: line was is they had a star last year that
Speaker 2: kind of shrunk under the pressure against Steph Curry, and
Speaker 2: so if Jason Tatum plays at or near this level,
Speaker 2: they're gonna win the title because they'll have a bona
Speaker 2: fide superstar at the helm, a reliable second star, and
Speaker 2: all of the talent that you need. It's just that's
Speaker 2: the question. Is Let's say that they beat Miami, and
Speaker 2: I believe they will. Eric Spolser is going to give
Speaker 2: him hell. He's going to ball pressure the hell out
Speaker 2: of those wings to make them uncomfortable because they're not
Speaker 2: great ball handlers. He's going to try to funnel them
Speaker 2: into bam at a bio. He's going to try to
Speaker 2: stagnate them with switching. He's going to do all these
Speaker 2: different things, and it will be a long, grueling series.
Speaker 2: Probably will still go six games, just because that's what
Speaker 2: Eric Spolster does. But they don't have the talent I
Speaker 2: don't think to beat this Boston Team's say it's the
Speaker 2: NBA Finals now and it's Lebron James and Anthony Davis
Speaker 2: rolling into Town another monster NBA personality. Is Jason Tatum
Speaker 2: going to be able to stand on that court and
Speaker 2: feel confident as the guy? And for the record, the
Speaker 2: Lakers gave the Celtics two really good fights this year
Speaker 2: and straight up got robbed in one of them, so
Speaker 2: like that, you've seen them play down to their competition.
Speaker 2: Those games were before the trade deadline too, that was
Speaker 2: before they made the roster changes. So I again, that's
Speaker 2: the thing. It's going to be. Can Tatum maintain that
Speaker 2: that moxie that you expect from a bona fide superstar
Speaker 2: at that level. And again, either way it's gonna be
Speaker 2: Yoku or it's gonna be Lebron, it's going to be
Speaker 2: somebody like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, listen, I'm happy that Tatum did what
Speaker 1: he did, but this had been what every Celtic fan
Speaker 1: woke up this morning and their number one concern was
Speaker 1: we're better than them? What Tatum's going to show on
Speaker 1: and it was the best version of him. So I'm
Speaker 1: really I gotta throw something at you so well, I
Speaker 1: have said this. I predicted that the Lakers would beat
Speaker 1: Minnesota in the playing game, and they would beat Memphis quickly.
Speaker 1: I thought they would lose to Golden State about five
Speaker 1: or six. I just didn't think they had the shooting
Speaker 1: and the way the series worked out one game rest
Speaker 1: before between each game I thought worked against the Lakers.
Speaker 1: Well it didn't. So I was driving today and you know,
Speaker 1: I'll meet these people in Los Angeles having coffee there,
Speaker 1: like do you finally believe in them? And I really
Speaker 1: I came to a conclusion today, like why it's not
Speaker 1: like I hated the Lakers. I've just said I don't
Speaker 1: think they're a championship team, which by the way, they're
Speaker 1: not yet. And I said about the Warriors, they're not
Speaker 1: a championship team. I had Milwaukee and Phoenix in it,
Speaker 1: with Milwaukee winning. But I thought about this. My opinion
Speaker 1: of Lebron this year has not been as accurate as
Speaker 1: the production of Lebron. So I've been saying on the air,
Speaker 1: There's never been a championship team where the best player
Speaker 1: AD is great eight offensively every other game and the
Speaker 1: second best player really doesn't have great games, he has
Speaker 1: great spurts. That's like a win a playoff series team.
Speaker 1: But if you go back and look at Lebron from
Speaker 1: playing game to Golden State, oh, play in game Memphis
Speaker 1: Golden State and you just don't know what is and
Speaker 1: you just give me the numbers of Lebron. What I've
Speaker 1: been doing is comparing Lebron to Lebron's prime. But if
Speaker 1: you took the name off and said here's what this
Speaker 1: player gives you, you're like, oh, he's a more efficient
Speaker 1: Jamal Murray, And then I could argue different games. Obviously,
Speaker 1: then I could argue, oh, they have the best player
Speaker 1: left and it'll bona fide All Star. I mean, Lebron
Speaker 1: did make what second team All NBA? Right, so third
Speaker 1: team I bad so and by the way, would have
Speaker 1: made second and he plays, he just didn't play many games.
Speaker 1: So and I was sitting in driving today, I was
Speaker 1: driving down and I was thinking, why can't I get
Speaker 1: this team? What the hell? And I'm like, on wait, timeout,
Speaker 1: you keep comparing Lebron to prime Lebron. If you compare
Speaker 1: Lebron to all the other players, you're like, yeah, he's
Speaker 1: really good, he's an All Star. So I do look
Speaker 1: at them and I think I probably think they're gonna
Speaker 1: match up really well with Denver. And my guess is
Speaker 1: La ends up against Boston in the finals. That's my
Speaker 1: guest today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm picking la over Denver probably in six games,
Speaker 2: just because that's the similar cadence that they go with.
Speaker 2: Again with the Lebron thing, he really is trying to
Speaker 2: conserve as much energy as possible. I don't think it's
Speaker 2: a coincidence that the two best moments he's had in
Speaker 2: this postseason so far are Game four against Memphis, down
Speaker 2: by one, He's playing like shit, yeah, and he's like,
Speaker 2: you know what, I just got to I just gotta
Speaker 2: go to the rim, and he was able to, and
Speaker 2: you know what, he finished over the defensive player of
Speaker 2: the year. Then to start overtime, he beat the defensive
Speaker 2: player of the year off the dribble and made a
Speaker 2: layup on him, and then he beat a second team
Speaker 2: defense perimeter defender to the basket, Dylan Brooks for an
Speaker 2: and one layup in his twenty twenty game And looking back,
Speaker 2: that salvaged that series in a lot of ways, because
Speaker 2: they would have gone back to Memphis to too totally
Speaker 2: different series if Lebron doesn't salvage that one. And then
Speaker 2: in Game six, like that was I don't think people
Speaker 2: realize like that was MVP level performance from Lebron in
Speaker 2: that Game six, like he was unbelievable defensively, unbelievable on
Speaker 2: the glass, controlled the offense out of the post, and
Speaker 2: had a high pick and roll picking on Steph Kurry.
Speaker 2: It was vintage Lebron. And so to me, what that
Speaker 2: told me was like, Okay, he knows he has that
Speaker 2: in the bag. What he's gonna do is he's gonna
Speaker 2: hold that back and only use it when it's absolutely necessary,
Speaker 2: just from the standpoint of the energy level and as
Speaker 2: far as the roster goes, and like, I know that
Speaker 2: there's not a dependable offensive player on the roster. That's true.
Speaker 2: Lebron's coasting a lot, Anthony Davis is up and down offensively,
Speaker 2: each of these role players are. It's like one night
Speaker 2: they're great, one night they're not. But there's so many
Speaker 2: of them that can go off. And Darvin Ham is
Speaker 2: so good at recognizing which player is in that groove
Speaker 2: and leaning on him with more minutes, just like Lonnie
Speaker 2: Walker in that fourth quarter of Game four where it's
Speaker 2: like tonight it's Austin Reeves, the next day it's D'Angelo Russell. Oh, today,
Speaker 2: Ruey Hachimuras got going. We're gonna feed him. He's got
Speaker 2: twenty four. Oh, today's Lebron's game. He's got it going.
Speaker 2: They've got such a depth of players that can convert
Speaker 2: things offensively, and as I look at the Denver matchup,
Speaker 2: to me, it's one hundred percent about Anthony Davis versus
Speaker 2: Nikola Jokic and his ability to bother him defensively. Because
Speaker 2: think of it like this, If I go down the roster,
Speaker 2: is Lebron better than Jamal Murray? Hell yeah, even this
Speaker 2: version of him Austin reeves, Yes, every bit is good,
Speaker 2: if not better than a guy like Michael Porter Junior
Speaker 2: or Contavious Calbo, Pope, D'Angelo Russell, like they actually down
Speaker 2: the roster are better. Just Jokic could theoretically be the
Speaker 2: best player in the series. And so everything to me
Speaker 2: comes down to Anthony Davis and his ability to bother
Speaker 2: Nikola Jokic. If he does that, I think the Lakers
Speaker 2: have enough and this this is a key Cup basketball
Speaker 2: that is going to dominate this particular series. Every team
Speaker 2: the Lakers have played so far has been able to
Speaker 2: switch the Lebron James Anthony Davis pick and roll because
Speaker 2: Dylan Brooks and Jaron Jackson can both guard the other,
Speaker 2: so they'll just switch it. You have Andrew Wiggins and
Speaker 2: Draymond Green, they can just switch it. They're not gonna
Speaker 2: switch Nikola Jokic onto Lebron. So basically you're gonna have
Speaker 2: Lebron dominating this series in high pick and roll against
Speaker 2: Nikola Jokic. And that's where Lebron can use his brain
Speaker 2: more because he's gonna automatically get dribble penetration coming over
Speaker 2: the top of those screens since they're not switching it.
Speaker 2: So it's gonna be all about Lebron on the offensive
Speaker 2: end in this series and all about Anthony Davis. Can
Speaker 2: he stay out of foul trouble and can he contain
Speaker 2: Nikola Jokic.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is the longest stretch for Anthony Davis playing. Well. Now,
Speaker 1: there was the Bubble year when he had that sabbatical,
Speaker 1: but this is really the longest sustained stretch. God, even
Speaker 1: pre Lakers. There was a couple of years before he
Speaker 1: came to the Lakers where he had injuries. So you
Speaker 1: cross your fingers a little, but I will say that
Speaker 1: I remember when the rumor started that Anthony Davis was
Speaker 1: going to be a Laker, and there was for about
Speaker 1: an hour a rumor he was going to be a Clipper.
Speaker 1: It was very brief, Rich Paul, the guys. I don't
Speaker 1: think Rich Paul wanted to make it look so obvious
Speaker 1: that he was going to join Lebron. So there was
Speaker 1: like this, oh, the Clippers are in it. And I
Speaker 1: remember a source inside the Clippers saying they just didn't
Speaker 1: think he would consistently play through pain and big guys
Speaker 1: have unique bodies and you gotta play hurt, and that
Speaker 1: was always the knock on him. I don't think he's
Speaker 1: one hundred percent now. I think he's playing hurt. And
Speaker 1: I think I'll throw this at you. When Lebron set
Speaker 1: the scoring record this year and there was that video
Speaker 1: where Anthony Davis like didn't get off the bench, and
Speaker 1: I think there was a little bit of feelings hurt
Speaker 1: and it was a little territorial like it's this my
Speaker 1: team or this. But I do think Lebron in his
Speaker 1: camp after the record was set, I think they made
Speaker 1: a real effort to say, hey man, that was just
Speaker 1: a record like this, this is your team. And I
Speaker 1: think Lebron and his guys deserve credit for really empowering
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis, because let's be honest, all we talked about
Speaker 1: for about three weeks was Lebron breaking Kareem Abdulijibbar's record,
Speaker 1: and that you know, after a while that would wear
Speaker 1: on the two best. Yeah, yeah, And so I think
Speaker 1: I think Lebron and his camp were very sensitive when
Speaker 1: there were there were some reports that I know because
Speaker 1: people reached out to me like they didn't like that narrative.
Speaker 1: And they've massaged it and they've really empowered a D.
Speaker 1: And you're seeing now college ad first three years in
Speaker 1: New Orleans, a D bubble, a D. And I don't
Speaker 1: think there's any question he's the best defensive player left.
Speaker 1: And I thought not Steph Curry, but Ad essentially controlled
Speaker 1: that whole series. Everything the Warriors did both ms was
Speaker 1: based on where's Ad. He totally controlled the series. Even
Speaker 1: on nights when he wasn't great offensively, he still controlled it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you hit this hard all week, and I'm so
Speaker 2: glad you did, because it's recognition that Anthony Davis deserves.
Speaker 2: Every adjustment in the series was built around the Warriors
Speaker 2: trying to get Anthony Davis away from the paint and
Speaker 2: the Lakers trying to get Anthony Davis back into the paint.
Speaker 2: There's no question to me that he was the best
Speaker 2: player in the series. I mean, the reality is is
Speaker 2: they held to Steph to his least efficient scoring postseason
Speaker 2: series since the Rockets in twenty nineteen. That's Anthony Davis.
Speaker 2: This is another crazy stat for you, Lebron, And this
Speaker 2: is this stat for you calling. This is the biggest
Speaker 2: reason why I believe in this Lakers team and their
Speaker 2: ability to win a championship. They throw hellacious defensive punches.
Speaker 2: Now they can coast a lot, and they usually wait
Speaker 2: to use it until they need it. I think it's
Speaker 2: a big part of why their series have followed identical cadences,
Speaker 2: because they just have thesecipic games like Game three, where
Speaker 2: it's like, we're gonna just throw the kitchen sink defensively,
Speaker 2: Game one, Game six, that kind of thing in clutch situation,
Speaker 2: So when the scorer is within five points with less
Speaker 2: than five minutes left, the Lakers are holding teams in
Speaker 2: this postseason run to seventy four point four points per
Speaker 2: one hundred possessions, and they are undefeated five to zero
Speaker 2: games this postseason with clutch situations. None of the remaining
Speaker 2: teams have a defensive rating below one hundred in clutch
Speaker 2: situations in this postseason run. So the Lakers defensive punch,
Speaker 2: in large part because of Anthony Davis, is just so
Speaker 2: much more powerful than any of these other teams and
Speaker 2: what they can throw, and so if they get enough
Speaker 2: offensively out of this group, they're just the better two
Speaker 2: way team than any of these guys in my opinion.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's I find myself. And this is not a
Speaker 1: shot at Jokic because I thought he'd deserved the MVP,
Speaker 1: But I do want to see a Laker Celtic final.
Speaker 1: I went skiing on a Saturday with a friend. It
Speaker 1: was a great ski day and we came home that
Speaker 1: night and the Celtics play the Lakers. That was on ABC.
Speaker 1: It was a Saturday night, you know network game. It
Speaker 1: was a great game in Boston. Great game. And I
Speaker 1: remember sitting with a friend and I'm like, I can't
Speaker 1: figure this team out. They'd beaten Milwaukee at Milwaukee like
Speaker 1: a month earlier. I'm like, God, this team's mess. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, then they play Milwaukee in Boston, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I think they're better. So I've struggled to get a
Speaker 1: beat on them all year. But I will say this
Speaker 1: because I was thinking of driving in the car today.
Speaker 1: Let's step ahead. If they faced Boston, So the best
Speaker 1: player would be Anthony Davis or Tatum. The second best
Speaker 1: player would be Jalen Brown or Lebron. And then you'd
Speaker 1: get to and you could criticize the Lakers for like,
Speaker 1: D'Angelo Russell is inconsistent, but he's a better offensive player
Speaker 1: than their third best player, Marcus Smart. And then you
Speaker 1: could say, well, Austin Reeves is undrafted, but I'd argue
Speaker 1: he's a more reliable player than their fourth best offensive player,
Speaker 1: Malcolm Brogdon. Well you could say, well, your Jared Vanderbilt
Speaker 1: gives you nothing offensively. Ei it as Robert Williams, and
Speaker 1: then you get into the ruie, and then you start
Speaker 1: looking around at those peripheral players, Derek White and ruining it.
Speaker 1: It's going to be a series where those role players,
Speaker 1: it's you know, role players play well. Jason at home,
Speaker 1: My guess is we're noted at six. We go to
Speaker 1: a game seven and then does Lebron go Superman as
Speaker 1: he put the cape on? But I went back and
Speaker 1: forth in the Car today Boston Lakers, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: that's pretty even. And the difference is, I think Darvin
Speaker 1: Ham's had a better year coaching. I think he has
Speaker 1: a better feel for his team than Missoula does. At
Speaker 1: this point. It is at this point, and again, let's
Speaker 1: not let's not go confirmation bias. Three games ago, we
Speaker 1: didn't know what the hell was going on a Tatum
Speaker 1: Orange coach. So right like today, we think it's all solved.
Speaker 1: But I think Boston Lakers, I've just come to terms
Speaker 1: with Lebron still has the ability to put the cape on.
Speaker 1: Even only his last year he could put the cape on.
Speaker 1: So maybe, and I'm warning myself be very careful. We
Speaker 1: did this with far we do it with Kobe Wit.
Speaker 1: These guys don't give it to you every night or
Speaker 1: every moment, but the ones, especially that took care of themselves,
Speaker 1: they can still bring it. Lebron's performance in Game six
Speaker 1: against Golden State, he was the best player on the
Speaker 1: fourteen shots for thirty points. It was incredible, and he's
Speaker 1: so smart, just.
Speaker 2: Bullying everybody to the rim, beating people off the dribble.
Speaker 2: It was. It was unbelievable. And that's the unique thing
Speaker 2: about this Laker team is they have what might be
Speaker 2: the best player in the world in Anthony Davis, and
Speaker 2: then another guy who, in any one game sample can
Speaker 2: be the best player on the floor. Like he was
Speaker 2: the best player on the floor in a game that
Speaker 2: had Anthony Davis and Steph Curry in it, and he's
Speaker 2: a million years old, Like it's remarkable to me. The
Speaker 2: Boston series an interesting matchup because Robert Williams I don't
Speaker 2: think would be as valuable in that series, because I
Speaker 2: think the Celtics would try to space out Anthony Davis
Speaker 2: with their five out groups without Horford on the perimeter. However,
Speaker 2: but one of Boston's biggest weaknesses in my opinion, is
Speaker 2: they are very very much analytically focused. They want layups
Speaker 2: and threes and layups and threes that I think plays
Speaker 2: directly into Darvin Ham's coaching style, which is we want
Speaker 2: to chase you off the line and funnel you to
Speaker 2: Anthony Davis. And so especially if Al Horford had Al
Speaker 2: Horford had extended stretches of this series where he lost
Speaker 2: control of his shot, like there was I think in
Speaker 2: game oh, you think in game six he was like
Speaker 2: zero for seven from three at one point like that.
Speaker 2: I think Darvin ham has some punches that he can
Speaker 2: throw against Boston to try to play them into their
Speaker 2: worst tendencies. But we have not seen a team yet
Speaker 2: that can truly and effectively pull Anthony Davis away from
Speaker 2: the basket. Boston has the tools necessary to do so.
Speaker 2: So it's another styles make fights kind of thing. And
Speaker 2: while Tatum and Brown are jacking up threes and driving
Speaker 2: into the basket, you're gonna have Anthony Davis and Lebron
Speaker 2: trying to punish them in the post, and they're gonna
Speaker 2: have Seisman's matches all over the floor. The guard play
Speaker 2: is going to be super interesting. That would definitely be
Speaker 2: very entertaining series. But I'll tell you the Lakers are
Speaker 2: gonna have their hands full with the Nuggets. I have
Speaker 2: a lot of respect for that team.
Speaker 1: Well, they know what they are, their star knows what
Speaker 1: he is. There's absolute clarity on what they do and
Speaker 1: don't do. My concern is, I don't trust Michael Porter
Speaker 1: in a big game. I just don't. So I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't even I know Jamal Murray's good.
Speaker 1: I trust you Kis in a big game, Jamal Murray
Speaker 1: I mostly trust, but Anthony Davis, if it went to
Speaker 1: a game six or seven, a D and Lebron are
Speaker 1: showing it. You know, there's you know, it's interesting about
Speaker 1: the Lakers. I view them as sort of an older,
Speaker 1: low ceiling team. But a D actually, for his age,
Speaker 1: is still in his prime. Austin Reeves going into it,
Speaker 1: de Loo absolutely in it. Vanderbilt athletically in it, Ruey
Speaker 1: in it. You know, you look at them and you
Speaker 1: just immediately this is my bias. Oh, Lebron's old, they're old,
Speaker 1: but they actually both Denver the Lakers, a majority of
Speaker 1: their players, whether we love them or not, there is
Speaker 1: a lot of guys in their prime. Athletically. Lebron obviously isn't.
Speaker 1: But if you look at Anthony Davis in this stretch,
Speaker 1: you can't tell me he's out of his prime. He's
Speaker 1: in his prime. I mean, there's never been a player
Speaker 1: this good in the playoffs that was maybe except Lebron.
Speaker 1: That Anthony's problems offensively a lot of times are I
Speaker 1: thought some of it was Golden State putting different people
Speaker 1: on him. It wasn't all that Anthony was bad. I mean,
Speaker 1: they did throw every look in the world conceivably at him,
Speaker 1: and very few players Jason are great. Tatum's a great example.
Speaker 1: He was crap for three quarters the other night in
Speaker 1: that game. Like how many players in the history of
Speaker 1: the league are great every single game offensively the whole series. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I remember. I mean Kobe had a game seven that
Speaker 1: Metal World Peace won that he was terrible. Remember the
Speaker 1: one in LA It was terrible. By the way, it
Speaker 1: is Lebron because I watched the I watched the Utah
Speaker 1: Jazz Michael Jordan Bowl final. Michael, I swear to god,
Speaker 1: I had like a ten for a thirty three. Utah
Speaker 1: gave him problems. I watched him have games against the
Speaker 1: Sonics where Michael was just close out games. Wasn't good,
Speaker 1: Like Lebron has screwed it all up. We just think, oh,
Speaker 1: twelve years, no bad games. I remember when Dan Gilbert
Speaker 1: at Once they were mad when he left Cleveland. They
Speaker 1: pointed to a game against like the Celtics and said
Speaker 1: he quit and it was like twenty eight thirteen to nine.
Speaker 1: I'm like, when that's your quit game. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think it's one of those things where Lebron just, I mean,
Speaker 1: Lebron changed how Lebron's putting pressure on Tatum. We now
Speaker 1: think that all these great players are always great in
Speaker 1: big games, and it's like, no, Michael wasn't. Barkley wasn't.
Speaker 1: KD wasn't Steph isn't. We've come to that conclusion. I
Speaker 1: think you're right. Lebron's the only one in my lifetime,
Speaker 1: you know, no one not Magic Johnson got called tragic
Speaker 1: Johnson right after a series against Pot. Kareem was pretty
Speaker 1: damn good. You couldn't stop his shot. Kareem had very
Speaker 1: few bad games in this product.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's to me, it's the unique thing that sets
Speaker 2: Lebron apart. He's not reliant on shot variants. So if
Speaker 2: his jumper's not falling, he's still going to finish eight
Speaker 2: or nine times in the paint, and he's going to
Speaker 2: create nine or ten assists kicking out to three point shooters,
Speaker 2: play elite defense and be able to dominate the flow
Speaker 2: of the game, and that's what sets him apart. Colin,
Speaker 2: I wanted to ask you, I have a theory for
Speaker 2: what direction the Warriors should go, But before I hit that,
Speaker 2: I wanted to see where your head's at. If you
Speaker 2: were GM of the warriors of like what do you?
Speaker 2: And we do have this report from Sham's that're probably
Speaker 2: going to keep Clay, probably going to keep Andrew and Draymond.
Speaker 2: It looks like the young guys name Lea, Kminga, and
Speaker 2: Pool will be the guys they look to sharp shop.
Speaker 2: So in your opinion, what kind of player would you
Speaker 2: be targeting with those players in a trade?
Speaker 1: Okay? So I read the Anthony Slater piece at the
Speaker 1: Athletic this morning, and so I agree that I would
Speaker 1: keep Okay, so the story laid it out as you do.
Speaker 1: They're going to keep Clay. I would try to get
Speaker 1: him at a reduced rate. I would not pay him.
Speaker 1: I would just go to him and say do you
Speaker 1: want to be part of this or not? But I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have a problem with Draymond. I still think Draymond's
Speaker 1: an elite defender. He's an offensive catalyst, a screen setter,
Speaker 1: IQ on the floor. He's always been hot and cold offensively.
Speaker 1: I would keep Steph. I would really try to keep Wiggins.
Speaker 1: I think there's some role players, you know. I would
Speaker 1: keep Kaminga. I like Moody, although he's limited. I like Moody,
Speaker 1: Gary Payton, I like and I would try to get
Speaker 1: Clay in a much reduced role. So the two players
Speaker 1: I have questions about her Jordan Poole, who drives me crazy,
Speaker 1: but Steph Mitch misses stretches and when he does, you
Speaker 1: can't become reliant on Clay. So Pool is way more
Speaker 1: valuable than I want to acknowledge because he drives me crazy.
Speaker 1: I think his issue Jason is because he backs up
Speaker 1: Steph that when he comes on the floor he feels
Speaker 1: he has to be spectacular. In the last two games
Speaker 1: in this series, I think we talked about this. He
Speaker 1: took some mid range shots. When you play behind Steph
Speaker 1: and the crowd's all worked up and he goes off
Speaker 1: the floor, it's like mid range jumpers. What this is?
Speaker 1: So I think I think I think Steph is an
Speaker 1: ally but can get in Jordan Poole's head. I think
Speaker 1: it's hard to play behind Steph. It really is hard.
Speaker 1: Whereas everybody knew physically, nobody was Lebron. Nobody thought I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do Lebron. Steph small slight, you can shoot two threes,
Speaker 1: and I think Pool sometimes thinks I'm going to do
Speaker 1: and it's like, no, dude, just do your thing. So
Speaker 1: I think Pools more valuable than I want to say
Speaker 1: is here's my concern. I think i'd move Looney. Here's
Speaker 1: why because I think one of the things the Lakers
Speaker 1: figured out very quickly, and they knew this going in,
Speaker 1: is he's just no offensive threat. So you have to
Speaker 1: have Draymond on the floor defensively, So you have to
Speaker 1: take Looney off the floor. And we know it's a
Speaker 1: wing league now right, it's a shooter's league. But because
Speaker 1: he's become such a profound rebounder, he's got value on
Speaker 1: the market. I think the next step for them is
Speaker 1: becoming less reliant on their backcourt scoring. They've got to
Speaker 1: have seventeen eighteen points. I don't think Karl Anthony Towns fits,
Speaker 1: he's too squirrely. But I do think if you went
Speaker 1: to Minnesota and said, hey, it doesn't work there, you
Speaker 1: guys could use Jordan Poole. Because Ant can sometimes be
Speaker 1: a reluctant perimeter shooter. He doesn't play defense. Ant can.
Speaker 1: That's an interesting fit. Mike Conley's a grown up pools limature.
Speaker 1: Ant is a physical specimen who can sometimes lose confidence
Speaker 1: in his shot. Pool never does in a weird way
Speaker 1: he kind of works with Minnesota. He really, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: you could disagree, but it's like he is what they
Speaker 1: aren't and what he isn't they are. And Karl Anthony Towns,
Speaker 1: although he's squarely can give you a twenty two point
Speaker 1: threat every night. And again I'm not saying he's the
Speaker 1: right one. I don't think you need twenty eight there,
Speaker 1: but you gotta be a threat. You've got to have.
Speaker 1: You've got to make Anthony Davis if you meet or Yokic,
Speaker 1: you have to make them stay up at night. And
Speaker 1: think I got to bring it on both ends. It's
Speaker 1: like Anthony Davis can take plays off. That's my take
Speaker 1: is that I would try to move you. Maybe have
Speaker 1: to move d'ante di Vincenzo. You got to move Gary Payton,
Speaker 1: you got to move two draft picks. You got to
Speaker 1: move Looney. I would try to get some scoring. That's
Speaker 1: what I would try to do. From the Am I
Speaker 1: wrong on that maybe?
Speaker 2: And if I am telling me, the big one you
Speaker 2: hit on that I very much agree with is you
Speaker 2: can't just rely on backcourt scoring anymore. As a matter
Speaker 2: of fact, you actually specifically said smaller role for Klay Thompson.
Speaker 2: I think it's time to have that meeting with Clay
Speaker 2: where you sit down with him and you're like, hey,
Speaker 2: we're in a different phase now, Like it's time for
Speaker 2: you to evolve into a little bit more of a
Speaker 2: supporting role. And it's kind of ironic because he had
Speaker 2: a pretty damn good regular season in terms of half
Speaker 2: court shot creation. But I saw people tweeting before Game six, like, oh,
Speaker 2: game six, Clay, and I'm like, there were a lot
Speaker 2: of things I didn't know about Game six. I was
Speaker 2: one hundred percent certain that Clay wasn't going to play well.
Speaker 2: He wasn't getting great looks. His legs were clearly cooked,
Speaker 2: like I thought. I said this in my Game six preview,
Speaker 2: and I think it was a missed opportunity. I think
Speaker 2: they should have been leaning way more and Andrew Wiggins
Speaker 2: to look to score throughout that series. He was getting
Speaker 2: much better matchups against these Laker guards. He was cooking them.
Speaker 2: In Game five at home, he scored on d Angelo Russell.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was better than I thought. In the Sacramento series,
Speaker 1: considering his hiatus, he was worse against the Lakers. He
Speaker 1: didn't show up for three four games yeah.
Speaker 2: And that's the thing is, like I thought they leaned
Speaker 2: way too heavily on clay when there were better options
Speaker 2: out there. I would look at it like this, Like
Speaker 2: the Jordan Pool problem is that the vast majority of
Speaker 2: young guards don't know how to play winning basketball. That's
Speaker 2: just the vast majority of them don't actually learn how
Speaker 2: to contribute in a winning context until they're in their
Speaker 2: late twenties, right, And so Jordan's just and you've talked
Speaker 2: about this a lot on your show. Jordan deserves to
Speaker 2: go somewhere where he can be the starting point guard
Speaker 2: and in a lower pressure situation, learn how to play
Speaker 2: the game. And more importantly, he's your best vehicle with
Speaker 2: which to bring back that diversity of shot creations. So
Speaker 2: if you're lying way too heavily on backcourt shot creation,
Speaker 2: you need some sort of rim pressuring forward that you
Speaker 2: can consistently dump the ball down into the post or
Speaker 2: attack mismatches with basically a better version of Andrew Wiggins.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's a guy like ogn Andobi
Speaker 2: that you try to get from somewhere like Toronto or
Speaker 2: Carl Towns is an interesting example. The one thing that
Speaker 2: freaks me out with Carl towns Is. He has a
Speaker 2: tendency to be like, oh, I'm just going to float
Speaker 2: around the perimeter today, and that that kind of can
Speaker 2: be a bit of an issue, especially for the addressed here,
Speaker 2: you know. And then with the Looney thing and this
Speaker 2: last thing I'll say about it, like he it's time
Speaker 2: for the Warriors to have what they wanted James Wiseman
Speaker 2: to be, but that he was never going to be
Speaker 2: that young, which is a true vertical threat underneath the
Speaker 2: basket for contested rebound situations, brim protection and in lob
Speaker 2: threat situations and pick and roll. It's time for them
Speaker 2: to have a six or eleven dude who can jump
Speaker 2: on the roster.
Speaker 1: It's time, by the way, let me throw out the knicks.
Speaker 1: They could sure use Andrew Wiggins. O.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great example. What about Julius Randall is
Speaker 2: a rim, pressuring forward for the Warriors?
Speaker 1: You know, could you get Mitchell Do you like Mitchell Robbinson?
Speaker 1: Although he's not much of an offensive.
Speaker 2: I like I like Mitchell Robinson a lot. He's actually
Speaker 2: a perfect example of a backup center that I'd love
Speaker 2: to have behind Raymond Green.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, I mean Julius Randall plays his ass off.
Speaker 1: He's a real defender, excellent effort guy. And on the Warriors,
Speaker 1: he would be the third to four scoring option. That's
Speaker 1: perfect for Julius Randall. Honestly, you know, it's so funny
Speaker 1: about this league. It's so much about fit. I mean,
Speaker 1: Lebron handpicked Ad. And one of the reasons why is
Speaker 1: I've always felt this with Lebron. It's kind of a
Speaker 1: sneaky Lebron thing. He doesn't want to be by the
Speaker 1: basket because if he's by the basket, defensively, he can't
Speaker 1: get the ball on the outlet and fly down the floor.
Speaker 1: He has to go ninety six. Lebron's way better at
Speaker 1: the free throw line and off to the races. So
Speaker 1: he's always loved a big that will do a little
Speaker 1: bit of the dirty work down low, just length. He
Speaker 1: didn't have to be because Lebron could block a lot more.
Speaker 1: He could be a much more. Yeah, but Lebron wants
Speaker 1: the ball tipped. Lebron gets the free throw line and
Speaker 1: then six nine, two fifty. At the other night, he
Speaker 1: came down on the break and he looked left and
Speaker 1: went right. I got He's a freight train like everybody's
Speaker 1: just he's parts the seas. But I do think that's
Speaker 1: to me. I don't know if Randall's the piece, But
Speaker 1: like I look at the Knicks and I'm like.
Speaker 2: His IQ concerns me, his basketball cube, him being a
Speaker 2: little bit of a ball stopper. That might drive Steve
Speaker 2: Kerr insane.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I I mean, the Knicks need a real score.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't want to give Wiggins up. I think you know,
Speaker 1: and you watch this league as closely as anybody. I know,
Speaker 1: I don't need twenty six and nine in the post.
Speaker 1: I need sixteen. I just need something. Like It's just
Speaker 1: the other day Looney hit a miderrate. He hit like
Speaker 1: a thirteen footer and I literally was like, holy hell,
Speaker 1: I've never even I mean it was just like I
Speaker 1: was with like four guys who were like, have you
Speaker 1: ever seen him do that before? Like he's not even
Speaker 1: a threat. And I think if you want to get
Speaker 1: through Jokich and Anthony Davis and it's like you got
Speaker 1: to be a threat. He can't have all your scoring
Speaker 1: back court. The volume, make sure to check out The
Speaker 1: Draymond Green Show. I brought Draymond Green into the volume
Speaker 1: because one of the more entertaining voices in sports. Unique
Speaker 1: perspective understands behind the rope also chops up with guests
Speaker 1: like Gary Payton, Zach Levine, Tracy McGrady. Make sure download
Speaker 1: The Draymond Green Show wherever you get your podcasts, only
Speaker 1: on the Volume podcast Network