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Speaker 1: The Volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight. You're at

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Speaker 1: the Volume. Happy Friday, everybody, I hope all if you

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Speaker 1: guys had an incredible week. We are live on AMP,

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Speaker 1: so if you're listening on our podcast feed or watching

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Speaker 1: on YouTube, don't forget that AMP as the very first

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Speaker 1: place that you guys can get these shows. Continuing our

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Speaker 1: top twenty five players of the last twenty five years

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Speaker 1: with number thirteen, twelve and eleven today, You guys know

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Speaker 1: the drope before we get started. Subscribe to The Volume's

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Speaker 1: YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of our videos.

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Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason Lts. You guys

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Speaker 1: don't miss an show announcements, And if, for whatever reason,

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Speaker 1: find them wherever you get your podcasts under Hoops Tonight,

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Speaker 1: and last but not least, it may be the NBA

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Speaker 1: off season, but there is no shortage of events out

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Speaker 1: there to attend, from baseball games, which are increasingly hard

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Speaker 1: to find on television, to concerts and comedy shows, and

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Speaker 1: the best way to get tickets to any of these

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Speaker 1: or your favorite comedian, download the game Time App. Again.

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Speaker 1: It's not just sports. August means huge summer concerts and

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Speaker 1: comedy shows all across the country, and game Time has

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Speaker 1: Terms apply again. Download the game Time App and entercode Hoops.

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Speaker 1: That's Hops for twenty dollars off. No matter where you live,

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Speaker 1: get out and have some fun this week. Download the

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Speaker 1: game Time App. Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. Also last,

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Speaker 1: but not least. Again, for those of you guys who

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Speaker 1: missed it, yesterday, I did a preview of the Feeble

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Speaker 1: World Cup. Talked a lot about Team USA, but hit

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Speaker 1: on some other teams as well, So if you miss that,

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Speaker 1: don't forget to check that out in our feed. All right,

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Speaker 1: let's continue right along with number thirteen. Steve Nash, the

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Speaker 1: last remaining player on our list who never won an

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Speaker 1: NBA championship in his career. He was three time First

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Speaker 1: team All NBA, seven time All NBA in total, He

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Speaker 1: was the assistant Champion in the league five times, and

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Speaker 1: he won back to back regular season MVP Awards in

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Speaker 1: two thousand and five in two thousand and six, the

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Speaker 1: only other Top twenty player other than Allen Iverson not

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Speaker 1: to win an NBA championship. On this list, I put

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Speaker 1: his prime down from two thousand and one to twenty twelve.

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Speaker 1: Believe it or not, Steve Nash made an All Star

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Speaker 1: team in twenty twelve. In that span, he averaged sixteen points,

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Speaker 1: three rebounds, and nine assists on sixty one percent true shooting,

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Speaker 1: and then in the playoffs during that span he averaged

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Speaker 1: eighteen points, four rebounds, and ten assists on fifty nine

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Speaker 1: percent true shooting. He always went up a level as

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Speaker 1: a scorer in the postseason, in large part because teams

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Speaker 1: would try to force him to score by staying home

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Speaker 1: off the ball. As a matter of fact, he had

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Speaker 1: nine to thirty point playoff games in his career, including

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Speaker 1: a career high forty eight in a game against the

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Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks in two thousand and five, which was higher

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Speaker 1: than any regular season scoring total he ever had in

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Speaker 1: his career. As for his claim to fame. I think

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Speaker 1: Steve Nash will be remembered for two main things. First,

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Speaker 1: he basically invented pace in space basketball. The Sons played

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Speaker 1: significantly faster than everyone else in the league. Even if

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Speaker 1: it's not necessarily fast compared to today's basketball, it was

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Speaker 1: significantly faster than anyone else in the league at the time.

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Speaker 1: And obviously we think of Steve Nash as this incredible passer,

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Speaker 1: right and we see that a lot in his pick

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Speaker 1: and roll numbers, which we're going to get to in

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Speaker 1: a little bit. But I thought Steve Nash's best trait

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Speaker 1: as a pick and roll ball handler or ex just

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Speaker 1: me as a point guard, I should say, was his

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Speaker 1: willingness to throw the kick ahead pass. You know, we

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Speaker 1: think of the you know, the point god Chris Paul as,

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Speaker 1: you know, a guy who strangles the pace of games.

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Speaker 1: He'd get the reboundary, he'd get the inbound pass on

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Speaker 1: the baseline, he'd slowly bring the ball up on the

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Speaker 1: ball up the floor, get guys to their spots, and

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Speaker 1: then run a pick and roll. Right. Well, Steve Nash

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Speaker 1: was the exact opposite of that. He just any single

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Speaker 1: time that the security defensive rebound or inbounded. After a

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Speaker 1: made basket, Steve immediately pushed the ball up the floor

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Speaker 1: with pace, and if he saw anybody in a position

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Speaker 1: to catch ahead of the floor, even if they weren't

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Speaker 1: necessarily wide open ready standing for a shot or for

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Speaker 1: a dunk, he'd throw it ahead. And there's a ton

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Speaker 1: of value in kick ahead passes. Not only do you eventually,

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Speaker 1: on several occasions, catch the defense slipping and you do

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Speaker 1: get a wide open three or a dunk, but in

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Speaker 1: addition to that, it keeps the defense unsettled from the start.

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Speaker 1: So you can imagine made basket, turnover, a misshot, whatever

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Speaker 1: it is. The defense is sprinting back in transition defense, right,

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Speaker 1: but they're not actually back yet. Usually there's one guy

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Speaker 1: at the basket, but there are guys that are trailing

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Speaker 1: the play. Sometimes guys aren't matched up yet, And so

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Speaker 1: when you throw a kick ahead pass, Let's say that

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Speaker 1: Rajah Bell's run in the left wing and he's ahead of,

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Speaker 1: you know, some of the guys, Like he's ahead of

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Speaker 1: four of the five defensive players, even though he's not

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Speaker 1: gonna be able run right to the rim for a

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Speaker 1: dunk because that fifth guy is back there. If I

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Speaker 1: pitch it ahead to Raja Bell, everyone on the defense turns,

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Speaker 1: and when they turn, all of a sudden, the other

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Speaker 1: four guys have opportunities to fill lanes and get open behind.

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Speaker 1: It's one of the best ways to keep the defense

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Speaker 1: from getting set. Throw that kick ahead pass. It's kind

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Speaker 1: of a lost art in the NBA. The only guy

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Speaker 1: really who you know consistently does it as a point

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Speaker 1: guard in this era really that I can think of

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Speaker 1: is Lonzo Ball, and he's been injured for a while.

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Speaker 1: It's something that Lebron James has been very good at

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Speaker 1: in his career, throwing kick ahead passes when guys are

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Speaker 1: up the floor, when you see opportunities to push the

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Speaker 1: ball up the floor and transition ahead of defensive players.

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Speaker 1: Even if it doesn't necessarily immediately generate a shot, it

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Speaker 1: usually gets and causes even more chaos in the defense,

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Speaker 1: which can which can create openings. Now you'd see guys

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Speaker 1: in situations like that too. Specifically, Raja Bell was gunning

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Speaker 1: for jump shots in that particular situation. There's the real

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Speaker 1: difference between because you know, I talked about Jason Kidd

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Speaker 1: being the best fast break player of the early two thousands. Well,

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Speaker 1: Steve Kid kind of excuse me, Steve Nash kind of

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Speaker 1: took that mantle away from him, right, But the way

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Speaker 1: that the Suns played fast break basketball was actually very

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Speaker 1: different from the way that the New Jersey Nets played

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Speaker 1: fast break basketball. The New Jersey Nets were more athletic,

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Speaker 1: and they were constantly running to the rim, right, whereas

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Speaker 1: the Suns in a lot of cases would run for

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Speaker 1: jump shots. And as a matter of fact, they took

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Speaker 1: more jump shots than anybody in the league over that span.

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Speaker 1: They led the leagues. They led the entire NBA in

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Speaker 1: jump shots attempted three years in a row from two

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Speaker 1: thousand and five, two thousand and six and two thousand

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Speaker 1: and seven. So when Steve Nash came, they immediately massively

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Speaker 1: increased their pace. They hunted jump shots, including in transition,

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Speaker 1: they played faster than everybody. That was kind of like,

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Speaker 1: I think the first thing that Steve Nash will get

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Speaker 1: remembered for kind of inventing pace in space basketball, particularly

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Speaker 1: as it pertains to hunting jump shots. The second thing

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Speaker 1: that I think Steve Nash will be remembered for is

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Speaker 1: I think he was the most accurate shooter of his

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Speaker 1: particular era. So not only did he have four seasons

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Speaker 1: in his career where he finished fifty to forty ninety,

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Speaker 1: meaning he shot at least fifty percent from the field,

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Speaker 1: forty percent from three to ninety percent from the free

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Speaker 1: throw line, but he also was consistently at the very

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Speaker 1: top of the league in field goal percentage on jump

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Speaker 1: shots overall. So I'm gonna read you guys some numbers.

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Speaker 1: This is where Steve Nash finished relative to the entire

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Speaker 1: NBA in field goal percentage on jump shots among players

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Speaker 1: who attempted at least five hundred jump shots during the season,

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Speaker 1: so all high volume jump shooters in field goal percentage

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Speaker 1: two thousand and five, Steve Nash finished second in field

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Speaker 1: goal percentage with at least five hundred jump shots two

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Speaker 1: thousand and six, fourth two thousand and seven to third,

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Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, first, two thousand and nine, first,

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Speaker 1: twenty ten, second, twenty eleven, fourth, And if you go

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Speaker 1: through those lists, there's a bunch of random guys that

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Speaker 1: ended up in high spots on that list. Because in

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Speaker 1: any given season, it got I can get hot, feel

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Speaker 1: good with his jump shot for eighty two games and

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Speaker 1: shoot a good percentage, but every single year, Steve Nash

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Speaker 1: was at or near the top of that list, and

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Speaker 1: that was what it was like watching him. If you

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Speaker 1: saw Steve Nash load up a jump shot and he

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Speaker 1: had his feet set like you just felt like that

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Speaker 1: thing was going in his archetype. He was bigger than

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Speaker 1: you'd think. He was a legit six foot three. He

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Speaker 1: was constantly in motion. He was very rarely just pounding

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Speaker 1: the ball in one spot on the floor even when

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Speaker 1: you watched him. Obviously we talked about those kick ahead

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Speaker 1: pases that we were talking about, but every time he

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Speaker 1: got rid of the basketball, he was always cutting and

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Speaker 1: running through and moving. Every time he was keeping alive,

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Speaker 1: dribble alive for ten fifteen dribbles at a time. He

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Speaker 1: was moving. We all remember those plays where Steve Nash

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Speaker 1: would like dribble along the baseline and get underneath the basket,

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Speaker 1: but instead of shooting, because he'd see a rim protector

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Speaker 1: chasing him, he would just dribble it all the way back. Also,

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Speaker 1: sometimes he would just dribble and circles around the floor

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Speaker 1: until somebody broke open and he'd hit them. And he

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Speaker 1: always hit the guy when he broke open. He was

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Speaker 1: by far the best pick and roll ball handler in

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Speaker 1: the league. During the mid two thousands, there were fourteen

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Speaker 1: players who ran at least five hundred pick and rolls.

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Speaker 1: In two thousand and five, Nash finished first at one

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Speaker 1: point one to two points per possession. Gilbertorenaz was second

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Speaker 1: at one point two points per possession, so he was

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Speaker 1: literally a full tenth of a point per possession better

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Speaker 1: than everybody else in the league. In that particular season,

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Speaker 1: twenty three players ran at least five hundred pick and rolls.

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Speaker 1: In two hundred and six, Nash finished first at one

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Speaker 1: point one points per possession. He was first out of

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Speaker 1: twenty five guys in two thousand and seven, so first

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Speaker 1: place three years in a row, second place out of

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Speaker 1: twenty six players in two thousand and eight. Anybody want

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Speaker 1: to guess who was second, Ziito turk Glue. We talked

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Speaker 1: a little bit about that when we talked about Dwight

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Speaker 1: Howard yesterday and how everyone remembers the Orlando Magic as

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Speaker 1: being like a Dwight Howard post up team, but they

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Speaker 1: were actually the biggest, the highest volume pick and roll

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Speaker 1: team in the league in two thousand and nine. In particular,

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Speaker 1: he was third. Nash was third out of thirty two

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Speaker 1: players to run at least five hundred pick and rolls

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Speaker 1: inefficiency in two thousand and nine, back to first out

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Speaker 1: of forty two players in twoenty ten, second out of

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Speaker 1: forty one players in twenty eleven, and first out of

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Speaker 1: thirty five players in twenty twelve. So over an eight

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Speaker 1: season span from two thousand and five to twenty twelve,

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Speaker 1: he was first place in the league high volume pick

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Speaker 1: and roll efficiency five of those eight seasons, and he

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Speaker 1: was top three in the other three seasons, so easily

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Speaker 1: the best pick and roll player of that era. He

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Speaker 1: was also a good ISO player. He'd like to pick

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Speaker 1: on bigs on switches. A lot of you guys might

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Speaker 1: remember key moments in like a series against the Spurs

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Speaker 1: or the MAVs, or like he pulled Dirk Noaviski out

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Speaker 1: to the perimeter and just kind of toast him off

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Speaker 1: the dribble for a layup, or if he played too

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Speaker 1: far off, he'd hit a pull up jump shot. Did

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Speaker 1: similar things to Tim Duncans sometimes in switches, But he

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Speaker 1: kind of reminded me of Chauncey Billups in that regard,

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Speaker 1: like it's very heavy to the left hand, Like he

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Speaker 1: went to the left about seventy percent of the time,

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Speaker 1: and it was just a simple give and take. It's

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Speaker 1: I'm either going to take this pull up jump shot

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Speaker 1: if you're too far, or I'm going right by you

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Speaker 1: if you are up too close into my space. One

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Speaker 1: of the things that was kind of kind of cool

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Speaker 1: with Steve Nash two is he always used his right hand,

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Speaker 1: So like when he was on the right side, he

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Speaker 1: go right hand, but when he would drive on his

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Speaker 1: left hand rather than left side, instead of like switching

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Speaker 1: to his left hand and like shielding with his right arm,

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Speaker 1: he kind of positioned his body between the rim protector

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Speaker 1: and kind of extend way out in front of him

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Speaker 1: and make like a low, right handed scoop shot off

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Speaker 1: the glass. Lots of young guards in that time tried

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Speaker 1: to copy that. Finish Steve Nash's crowning achievement. He went

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Speaker 1: back to back MVPs in two thousand and five in

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Speaker 1: two thousand and six, although unfortunately they lost in the

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Speaker 1: conference finals both times. The biggest one if of Steve

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Speaker 1: Nash's career what if the two thousand and seven series

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Speaker 1: with the Spurs had gone differently. This is an interesting

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Speaker 1: one because, first of all, the Suns lose this really

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Speaker 1: tight Game one, and there's this weird play where like

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Speaker 1: Steve Nash closes out on Tony Parker on the right

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Speaker 1: wing and he bunks heads with him and he gets

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Speaker 1: this big gash along his nose and it just will

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Speaker 1: not stop bleeding, and he ended up actually having to

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Speaker 1: sit on the bench during several pivotal offensive possessions at

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Speaker 1: the end of that game. And they lost in a

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Speaker 1: very very close game. And so that's kind of the

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Speaker 1: first what if in that specific series. And then, as

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Speaker 1: you guys know, the Sons go on to win two

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Speaker 1: of the next three games, including winning Game four in

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Speaker 1: San Antonio, and unfortunately, in Game five at home, we

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Speaker 1: have the brawl, the shove into the scorers table, people

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Speaker 1: leaving the benches. Amari Stodemeyer, the second best player on

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Speaker 1: the Suns, gets suspended for the pivotal Game five and

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Speaker 1: they end up losing Game five. Actually, excuse me, the

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Speaker 1: shove into the scorers table happened during the Sun's big

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Speaker 1: Game four win. Stottamayer had to sit out Game five,

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Speaker 1: and so the Sons ended up losing at home in

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Speaker 1: a pivotal Game five with their second best player not

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Speaker 1: able to play, and then they ended up losing in

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Speaker 1: Game six in San Antonio. So again, if you look

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Speaker 1: at like, what if Nash doesn't bust is no open

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Speaker 1: and what if Stottomeyer doesn't get suspended for Game five?

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Speaker 1: Do the Suns win that series? I don't know, but

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Speaker 1: they certainly have a much better chance, right And do

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Speaker 1: they beat the Jazz in the conference finals? Probably they

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Speaker 1: would have been favored. Do they beat the Calves in

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Speaker 1: the finals? Definitely? That Caves team wasn't very good. So

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Speaker 1: I mean, we're talking about a game of inches here

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Speaker 1: that kept Steve Nash away from potentially being a champion

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Speaker 1: in US. Looking back at his career, very very differently,

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Speaker 1: all right. Number twelve Kawhi Leonard best player on a

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Speaker 1: championship team in twenty nineteen. He was a role player

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Speaker 1: on a championship team in twenty fourteen with the Spurs,

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Speaker 1: three time first Team All NBA, five time All NBA Overall,

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Speaker 1: seven time All Defense, and two time Defensive Player of

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Speaker 1: the Year, and he also led the league in steals

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Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen. He also is a two time NBA

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Speaker 1: Finals MVP in twenty fourteen. In twenty nineteen, although I

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Speaker 1: personally don't think he should have gotten the twenty fourteen one.

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Speaker 1: We'll talk about that in a little bit. I put

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Speaker 1: his prime down as twenty sixteen. To the president and

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Speaker 1: everything before that, he was more of a role player,

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Speaker 1: really became a primary shot creator in twenty sixteen. During

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Speaker 1: that span, he averaged twenty five point seven rebounds and

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Speaker 1: for assists on sixty one percent true shooting. In the playoffs,

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Speaker 1: always one of the best playoff performers of his era,

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Speaker 1: twenty nine points eight rebounds and for assists on sixty

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Speaker 1: three percent true shooting. Kawis claimed to fame. In my

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Speaker 1: opinion is he kind of carried the mantle of Kobe

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Speaker 1: Bryant as like the next in his era, the best

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Speaker 1: like two way score like when it purely came down

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Speaker 1: to getting a bucket for yourself or stopping the other

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Speaker 1: team's best player from getting a bucket for himself. Nobody

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Speaker 1: in the league was better than Kawhi during his particular era. Now, obviously,

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Speaker 1: the game of basketball is way more complicated than just

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Speaker 1: those two situations, and that's why there are players that

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Speaker 1: are better players than Kawhi in his era. I never

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Speaker 1: thought Kawhi was the best player in the league because

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Speaker 1: of those complications that I'm referring to. But when we

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Speaker 1: simplify the game of basketball down to just those two things,

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Speaker 1: nobody was better at it than Kawhi Leonard. His archetype.

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Speaker 1: He was kind of like the way I would just

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Speaker 1: break down Kawhi Leonard to someone who had never seen

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Speaker 1: him before, as I'd say, he's kind of like a bigger, stronger,

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Speaker 1: but more ground bound version of Michael Jordan. He plays

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Speaker 1: kind of like an old school two guard, a heavy

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Speaker 1: diet of pull up jump shots in the mid range

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Speaker 1: off the balance in I own and pick and roll,

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Speaker 1: and then just a ridiculous back to the basket game

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Speaker 1: with super reliable fadeaway jump shots over both shoulders and

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Speaker 1: all of that, like you know, footwork that you became

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Speaker 1: accustomed to seeing from the best two guards in the

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Speaker 1: league during the late nineties in the early two thousands.

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Speaker 1: He does have more of a power style than some

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Speaker 1: of those more athleticism based two guards right like Kobe

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Speaker 1: and mj were more rise and fire guys that used

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Speaker 1: their athleticism to get over the top of the defense.

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Speaker 1: Kawhi Leonard was more of a power guy. He's winning

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Speaker 1: ground battles. He's bumping you off of your base to

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Speaker 1: get separation, generating that separation on the ground rather than

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Speaker 1: in the air. So that that kind of like gave

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Speaker 1: him this unique quality where because he's so damn big

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Speaker 1: and strong, he plays more of a three to four

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Speaker 1: because of who who he can guard defensively and then

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Speaker 1: offensively kind of fills more of the role of like

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Speaker 1: a two guard, right. And you know, as we say

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Speaker 1: all the time, like you your position in basketball has

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Speaker 1: more to do with who you can guard rather than

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Speaker 1: what you can do offensively. And that allowed Kawhi a

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Speaker 1: ton of versatility that made him easy to build around

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Speaker 1: on any team. For instance, like on a Toronto Raptors team,

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Speaker 1: he can play a smaller position next to Pascal Siakam

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Speaker 1: and Sergebaka or Marc Gasol, right because of what he's

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Speaker 1: capable of defensively, being able to slot up to twos.

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Speaker 1: But then in a Clippers lineup, you can put him

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Speaker 1: at power forward and it works. It's one of the

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Speaker 1: unique kind of things that makes him versatile. He has

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Speaker 1: absolutely mastered shot making at the NBA level this year

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Speaker 1: with the Clippers. He's just peaking right now. Fifty nine

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Speaker 1: percent effective field goal percentage on catch and shoe jumpers,

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Speaker 1: fifty six percent effective field goal percentage on pull up jumpers,

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Speaker 1: forty six percent on floaters, sixty percent on hooks. He's

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Speaker 1: also made significant strides as a passer. I won't go

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Speaker 1: too far into it because we did it in our

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Speaker 1: player rankings, but he basically turned his biggest weakness as

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Speaker 1: a basketball player, the ability to pass, into something where

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Speaker 1: now he's kind of on par with his peers, and

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Speaker 1: that's allowed him to get well over a point per

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Speaker 1: possession and pick and roll ISO and post up situations,

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Speaker 1: and he's turned into a legitimate top tier shot creator

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Speaker 1: in this league. Kawhi's crowning achievements. Early in his career,

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Speaker 1: he was a role player with the Spurs, a cog

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Speaker 1: in an offensive system ran by better offensive players more

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Speaker 1: of a defensive focus right, But then he became a

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Speaker 1: star level shot creator with the Spurs in twenty sixteen,

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Speaker 1: But unfortunately, over the next three seasons, by virtue of

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Speaker 1: some limitations on the roster and also some injuries, he

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Speaker 1: never actually won a title with the Spurs, But finally

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Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, messaiyu Jiri takes a big risk in

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Speaker 1: trades for Kawhi Leonard and he goes to the Raptors

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Speaker 1: and he finds himself in a perfect situation to hide

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Speaker 1: his flaws and accentuate his strengths. He played a lot

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Speaker 1: alongside high level passers like Fred van Vliet and Kyle Lowry,

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Speaker 1: who could do more of the managing of the offense,

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Speaker 1: so that didn't put that on Kawi's plate. He had

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Speaker 1: elite back line help to help weaponize Kawi's point of

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Speaker 1: attack defense, which can be so valuable. He got to

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Speaker 1: be the tip of a spear, which is kind of

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Speaker 1: what you need for this archetype of player when you're

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Speaker 1: primarily a two way scorer, a guy who gets buckets

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Speaker 1: and gets stops like you have to be surrounded by

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Speaker 1: a certain type of player or players around you that

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Speaker 1: can allow you to just be the tip of the spear.

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Speaker 1: And that's what the Rappers, a Raptor Raptors allowed him

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Speaker 1: to do, and that you know, so he ends up

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Speaker 1: being the closer for that Raptors team, pushes them over

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Speaker 1: the top and also helped that Lebron was out of

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Speaker 1: the conference at that point, and Kawhi wins his first

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Speaker 1: legitimate Finals MVP. So I want to talk about the

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Speaker 1: finals MVPs for a second, not just Kawi's because I

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Speaker 1: think this applies to twenty fifteen as well, But the

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Speaker 1: twenty fourteen and twenty fifteen finals MVPs to me were

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Speaker 1: great examples of like the media just box score watching

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Speaker 1: and buying into like stupid narratives rather than paying attention

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Speaker 1: to what a basketball team is doing. And there were

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Speaker 1: two primary drivers of that. So like you see Kawhi

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Speaker 1: Leonard average eighteen points per game in the NBA Finals

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Speaker 1: because of just openings that were generated by better offensive

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Speaker 1: players on his team. Or you see Andre Gudala what

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Speaker 1: I think Igudala averaged like twenty in the twenty fifteen

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Speaker 1: finals if I remember correctly, same type of thing, like

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Speaker 1: Steph Curry's getting blitzed thirty feet from the basket and

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Speaker 1: Andre Goudala is shooting wide open corner threes and everyone's like,

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Speaker 1: oh my gosh, look at how valuable Andre Gudala is.

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Speaker 1: He's averaging twenty points a game. And then there was

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Speaker 1: a whole regarding Lebron thing, which was completely ridiculous because

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Speaker 1: Lebron just lit Kawhi on fire in the twenty fourteen Finals,

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Speaker 1: he averaged twenty eight points per game on sixty eight

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Speaker 1: percent true shooting. Sixty eight percent true shooting, did very

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Speaker 1: little to really truly bother Lebron James in that series,

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Speaker 1: but it became the narrative, right and then the Andrea

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Speaker 1: Gudala series in twenty fifteen, same sort of thing. Everyone's like,

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Speaker 1: he guarded Lebron, he held him to forty percent shooting,

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Speaker 1: but it's like, literally Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving were out,

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Speaker 1: they're guarding Lebron with five man groups with all eyes

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Speaker 1: on him because he's playing with guys like j R.

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Speaker 1: Smith was really the only legitimate NBA starter playing alongside

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Speaker 1: Lebron James in that finals, because there was a lot

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Speaker 1: of guys in that lineup that had to play because

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Speaker 1: of injuries that probably wouldn't have cracked starting lineups elsewhere

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Speaker 1: in the league. And so it just was a silly

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Speaker 1: narrative when the truth of the matter was is Steph

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Speaker 1: Curry was far and away the best player on the

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Speaker 1: Warriors and he deserved to win Finals MVP when his

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Speaker 1: Warriors team won an NBA championship. And the same thing

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Speaker 1: goes in twenty fourteen. These are some crazy stats for you.

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Speaker 1: So Kawhi in the twenty fourteen playoff run only ran

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Speaker 1: one hundred and eighteen self creation possessions, that's pick and rolls,

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Speaker 1: ISOs and post ups only ran one hundred and eighteen.

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Speaker 1: Tony Parker ran four hundred and thirty nine. Okay, Manu

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Speaker 1: Jeno ran two hundred and ninety. Tim Duncan himself old

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Speaker 1: Tim Duncan ran one hundred and twenty five, which is

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Speaker 1: seven more than Kawhi Leonards. So like, yeah, he averaged

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Speaker 1: eighteen points a game, played extremely well in the finals.

432
00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:14,880
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to undercut how well he played. He

433
00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:18,320
Speaker 1: did star in his role, but he wasn't the best

434
00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:20,320
Speaker 1: player on that team. It was either Tony Parker or

435
00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:22,720
Speaker 1: Tim Duncan. And this is why I'm a big advocate

436
00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:25,760
Speaker 1: of the like getting rid of the finals MVP award

437
00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:29,160
Speaker 1: and making it more of the championship MVP, the award

438
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:32,119
Speaker 1: you give to the player who deserves the most credit

439
00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:34,880
Speaker 1: for leading that team to an NBA championship. That way

440
00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:37,720
Speaker 1: you can filter through the crap right. That way you

441
00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:40,080
Speaker 1: can look at it and be like, oh, Kawhi Leonard

442
00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:43,280
Speaker 1: only averaged thirteen points per game through the first three

443
00:21:43,359 --> 00:21:45,760
Speaker 1: rounds of the playoffs. So maybe he's not the best

444
00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:50,160
Speaker 1: player on the Spurs. It's probably Tony Parker or Tim

445
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,080
Speaker 1: Duncan who was awesome during that entire playoff run and

446
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:56,040
Speaker 1: outscored Kawhi Leonard during that entire playoff run. It's just

447
00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:58,560
Speaker 1: it's so silly how that works, because you end up

448
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:01,640
Speaker 1: zooming in on just this small sample size of games,

449
00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:04,120
Speaker 1: and you have all these media reporters who can't look

450
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:08,760
Speaker 1: at past the damn box score long enough to understand

451
00:22:08,800 --> 00:22:11,760
Speaker 1: how that basketball team is operating. Like it's I love

452
00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:15,520
Speaker 1: Anddrake Guodala. He's a guy who played at the University

453
00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:18,280
Speaker 1: of Arizona. The dude's a legend here in Tucson. I'm

454
00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:19,840
Speaker 1: a big fan of him in general. I think he's

455
00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:21,800
Speaker 1: one of the best perimeter defenders of this decade, one

456
00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:23,960
Speaker 1: of the best role players of this decade. Huge and

457
00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:27,560
Speaker 1: Drake Guodala fan. Giving him the twenty fifteen Finals MVP

458
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:31,040
Speaker 1: is one of the most absurd mistakes the media has

459
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,600
Speaker 1: ever made in the history of the NBA. Like, literally,

460
00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:37,879
Speaker 1: the dude was shooting wide open spot up shots and

461
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:41,080
Speaker 1: catching wide open dunks along the baseline because the Cavs

462
00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:44,480
Speaker 1: were throwing the damn kitchen sink at Steph Curry. It

463
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,840
Speaker 1: was completely absurd that we have to reevaluate how we

464
00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:50,480
Speaker 1: do this stuff. Tony Parker ran the offense for the

465
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:53,879
Speaker 1: Spurs in twenty fourteen. Kawhi was really really good in

466
00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:58,199
Speaker 1: his role in won five game series. Not nearly as

467
00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:00,960
Speaker 1: valuable as Tim Duncan or Tony Parker was to that team.

468
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,879
Speaker 1: It's ridiculous that they gave him a Finals MVP, but

469
00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:07,840
Speaker 1: again that's kind of a side tangent. He very very

470
00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:12,640
Speaker 1: very much deserved the twenty nineteen Finals MVP. So what's

471
00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:15,720
Speaker 1: the biggest what if of Kawhi Leonard's career. What if

472
00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:19,600
Speaker 1: his knee had held up during the twenty twenty one playoffs.

473
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:21,840
Speaker 1: Kawhi was hooping his ass off in that twenty twenty

474
00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:23,399
Speaker 1: one playoff run. For those of you guys you remember,

475
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:25,760
Speaker 1: he averaged thirty points, eight rebounds, and four assists on

476
00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:28,679
Speaker 1: sixty eight percent true shooting, which is off the charts.

477
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:31,119
Speaker 1: He had a couple of ridiculous donks. He had a

478
00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:33,200
Speaker 1: dunk in the Jazz series where right left just went

479
00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:36,080
Speaker 1: down and just dunked on everybody. He looked amazing, but

480
00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:38,120
Speaker 1: then he partially tore his ACL and missed the rest

481
00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:42,080
Speaker 1: of the playoffs. Paul George finishes off the one seed Jazz.

482
00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:45,200
Speaker 1: The one seed Jazz finishes them off, and then gets

483
00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,160
Speaker 1: two games off the Suns in the Conference finals without Kawhi.

484
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:50,960
Speaker 1: So you can imagine how much better that team potentially

485
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,720
Speaker 1: could have been in the conference finals and then potentially

486
00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:56,280
Speaker 1: in an NBA Finals series against the Bucks had Kawhi

487
00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:58,280
Speaker 1: Leonards stayed healthy. And if you start to look at

488
00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:03,440
Speaker 1: it as three champion ships with two legitimate finals MVPs,

489
00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:06,040
Speaker 1: that's where you know, Kawhi could have entered into some

490
00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:08,960
Speaker 1: conversations like, hey, is he above Kevin Durant in this era?

491
00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:12,080
Speaker 1: You know, that's an interesting conversation there. But we didn't

492
00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:15,000
Speaker 1: get to see that because once again Kahi Leonard got hurt,

493
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,399
Speaker 1: which has become a recurring theme towards the end of

494
00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:21,480
Speaker 1: his career. Number eleven last guy for today, Kevin Garnett,

495
00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:24,000
Speaker 1: first player to be drafted out of high school since

496
00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:26,920
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five, the best player on a championship team

497
00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:29,840
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight. Now, Paul Pierce was was

498
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:32,720
Speaker 1: close to KG on that team and was definitely the

499
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:35,159
Speaker 1: closer on that team in terms of shot making and

500
00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:39,120
Speaker 1: obviously like in that, like that's different than the twenty

501
00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:42,240
Speaker 1: fourteen or twenty fifteen finals MVPs, Like those were role

502
00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,880
Speaker 1: players that stole Finals MVPs from stars who deserved it, right,

503
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,000
Speaker 1: Like Tony Parker was, you know, like consensus one of

504
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:51,119
Speaker 1: the top ten to fifteen players in the league in

505
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:52,800
Speaker 1: those years. He was coming off of back to back

506
00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,520
Speaker 1: second team All NBA selections. Like it just it's totally

507
00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:58,679
Speaker 1: different than a role player, right, you know, Steph Curry

508
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:00,919
Speaker 1: was the MVP of the league and twenty fifteen it

509
00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:03,600
Speaker 1: was very clearly the best player. Those were different. Paul

510
00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:06,280
Speaker 1: Pierce and Kevin Garnett were at a very similar level

511
00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:08,960
Speaker 1: and they were both stars. So Paul Pierce winning the

512
00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:11,359
Speaker 1: MVP Finals MVP in two thousand and eight is not

513
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:14,600
Speaker 1: something that concerns me, and frankly I thought he deserved it.

514
00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:16,879
Speaker 1: But KG, I do think was the best player on

515
00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,240
Speaker 1: that team in terms of overall winning impact. Four time

516
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:23,360
Speaker 1: First Team All NBA, nine time All NBA Overall, two

517
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:25,960
Speaker 1: thousand and eight Defensive Player of the Year, twelve time

518
00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 1: All Defense Team including nine time First Team All Defense.

519
00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:32,280
Speaker 1: He was the rebounding champion in the league four times,

520
00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:34,919
Speaker 1: and he was the MVP of the regular season in

521
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 1: two thousand and four. I put down his prime from

522
00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:39,960
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven to twenty thirteen. That's one hell of

523
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:42,199
Speaker 1: a long prime. That's seventeen years. Guess what. He made

524
00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:44,359
Speaker 1: an All Star team in both of those seasons, in

525
00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:48,560
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety seven and twenty thirteen. This extends to before

526
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:50,800
Speaker 1: our nineteen ninety nine cutoff point, to be clear, but

527
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:53,399
Speaker 1: I wanted to try to capture kg's whole career, and

528
00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,879
Speaker 1: we're only talking about two years there. During the regular season,

529
00:25:56,880 --> 00:25:59,000
Speaker 1: in that span, he averaged twenty points, eleven rebounds and

530
00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:02,400
Speaker 1: four assists on fifty five percent through shooting. In the playoffs,

531
00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:05,800
Speaker 1: nineteen points eleven rebounds in four assists on fifty two

532
00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:09,600
Speaker 1: percent true shooting. Kg's claymon the fame is. I thought

533
00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:11,280
Speaker 1: he was one of the very best defensive players of

534
00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:13,119
Speaker 1: his era. It's hard to say. This era was just

535
00:26:13,119 --> 00:26:16,480
Speaker 1: so stacked with defensive talent. Like most people will tell you,

536
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:18,320
Speaker 1: as Ben Wallace was the best defender of this era,

537
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:20,320
Speaker 1: A lot of people will tell you it was Tim Duncan.

538
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:22,160
Speaker 1: A lot of people will tell you it was Kevin Garnett.

539
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:24,280
Speaker 1: They're all very different in the way they played, too.

540
00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:27,280
Speaker 1: Like Kevin Garnett was like much more of like a

541
00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:29,840
Speaker 1: active mobile defender that was kind of all over the floor,

542
00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:33,560
Speaker 1: got a lot of steals and things like that. Tim

543
00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,399
Speaker 1: Duncan was more of like a traditional rim protector, hanging

544
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:39,720
Speaker 1: back towards the rim. Ben Wallace was like a complete

545
00:26:39,720 --> 00:26:42,399
Speaker 1: alien and didn't resemble anything else that we saw in

546
00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:44,679
Speaker 1: basketball over that span, right, So they're all very different.

547
00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:46,440
Speaker 1: It kind of depends who you ask, but those three

548
00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:49,199
Speaker 1: guys were basically the best defenders of that era. The

549
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:51,920
Speaker 1: biggest debate of this era is whether or not Kevin

550
00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:55,240
Speaker 1: Garnett or Dirk is the second best power forward of

551
00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:58,879
Speaker 1: all time behind Tim Duncan and I tend to our

552
00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:00,840
Speaker 1: second best power forward of that era, I should say,

553
00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:03,640
Speaker 1: behind Tim Duncan. I tend to lean slightly towards Dirk.

554
00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:07,280
Speaker 1: As you guys can probably tell from the list his archetype.

555
00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:09,360
Speaker 1: He had very similar frame to Anthony Davis, who six

556
00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:11,200
Speaker 1: to eleven with a seven to five wingspan, just like

557
00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:15,199
Speaker 1: a terodactyl on defense, just all over passing, lanes. He

558
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:16,760
Speaker 1: was one of the best post players in the league.

559
00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 1: In two thousand and five, out of forty three players

560
00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:21,280
Speaker 1: to run at least two hundred post ups, Scarnett ranked

561
00:27:21,320 --> 00:27:24,000
Speaker 1: second out of forty three players with one point zero

562
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:26,560
Speaker 1: two points per possession. He was fifth out of forty

563
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:28,159
Speaker 1: five players in two thousand and six, and then he

564
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:31,240
Speaker 1: was first out of forty players in two thousand and seven.

565
00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:35,160
Speaker 1: Just a super super deadly post up player. Very very

566
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:37,760
Speaker 1: good mid range jump shot. Those of you guys who

567
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:40,600
Speaker 1: remember Kevin Garnett, like there were two main jump shots

568
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:41,960
Speaker 1: that he was kind of famous for. It was just

569
00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:44,439
Speaker 1: a really good hard jab step jump shot. He had

570
00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:46,480
Speaker 1: a good release that was almost like back behind his head,

571
00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:48,560
Speaker 1: so it was really difficult to contest. And then he

572
00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,399
Speaker 1: had this turnaround fade away that he would take and uh,

573
00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:54,320
Speaker 1: primarily over his right shoulder, but like he would like

574
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:56,800
Speaker 1: kind of like go into his high hesitation and then

575
00:27:56,800 --> 00:28:00,320
Speaker 1: he would do like this triple like shoulder shimmy before

576
00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:03,040
Speaker 1: he would go into his fade away, and like every

577
00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:05,840
Speaker 1: kid tried to copy that in the post. You'll just remember,

578
00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:07,560
Speaker 1: like you get into the high hesitation and then it

579
00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:09,720
Speaker 1: was like a shimmy and then he'd either out of

580
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:11,520
Speaker 1: the shimmy, he'd either go left or he'd go right.

581
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:13,600
Speaker 1: But he was better shooting that like kind of turn

582
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:18,000
Speaker 1: around fade away over his right shoulder. Also had a

583
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 1: deadly accurate hook shot that he made about sixty percent

584
00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 1: of the time, knockdown, catch and shoot jumpers pretty well

585
00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:25,200
Speaker 1: in that fifteen to twenty foot range. He was about

586
00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:27,440
Speaker 1: forty percent for the during the prime of his career,

587
00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:30,600
Speaker 1: which at the time was a legitimate pick and pop threat,

588
00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:33,640
Speaker 1: just a super valuable anchor for a basketball team on

589
00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:36,120
Speaker 1: both ends of the floor. The ability to build around

590
00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:38,920
Speaker 1: him defensively, and then he didn't really start to really

591
00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:40,719
Speaker 1: operate and pick and roll as much until he got

592
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:42,479
Speaker 1: to the Celtics, but he did a lot of that.

593
00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:46,440
Speaker 1: There just a guy that could fill so many holes

594
00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:48,520
Speaker 1: for a basketball team, which is why he was so

595
00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:51,800
Speaker 1: valuable in a winning concept. His crowning achievement, he was

596
00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:53,720
Speaker 1: the best player on the two thousand and eight Celtics

597
00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:55,600
Speaker 1: when they won the championship. He was also third in

598
00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:59,400
Speaker 1: MVP voting that year. Led the Celtics to a sixty

599
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,840
Speaker 1: six teen record, averaged eighteen and thirteen with two point

600
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:04,400
Speaker 1: seven blocks per game in the two thousand and eight

601
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:07,600
Speaker 1: NBA Finals as the Celtics eliminated the Lakers in the

602
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,560
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight Finals, and we got to hear

603
00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:13,200
Speaker 1: Kevin Garnett yell out anything is possible at the top

604
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,800
Speaker 1: of his lungs in a rather iconic NBA moment. Biggest

605
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:18,560
Speaker 1: what if of Kevin Garnett's career? What if he didn't

606
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:21,000
Speaker 1: get hurt? We said this already in the Paul Pier's section,

607
00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:22,120
Speaker 1: but what if he didn't get hurt in the two

608
00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:25,960
Speaker 1: thousand and nine season. Again, the Celtics started twenty seven

609
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:28,840
Speaker 1: to two that year in their title defense, and if

610
00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:32,120
Speaker 1: KG had stayed healthy, they probably win the title that year.

611
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:35,280
Speaker 1: They were better. They kicked the Lakers as in Game six,

612
00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:39,040
Speaker 1: won by almost forty We're kicking everyone's ass to start

613
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:41,120
Speaker 1: the season. They were the best team in the league

614
00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:43,400
Speaker 1: and their best player got hurt. And so it's interesting

615
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:45,200
Speaker 1: to think about how that could have gone because now

616
00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:48,160
Speaker 1: you're looking at potentially a two time best player on

617
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:50,200
Speaker 1: a championship team. All right, guys, that is all we

618
00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:52,360
Speaker 1: have for today. We're going to be continuing next week

619
00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:55,120
Speaker 1: with ten through ten through six and then five through

620
00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:58,880
Speaker 1: one the following week. I'm gonna slow way down on

621
00:29:58,920 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 1: these because we're just doing one player per day. We'll

622
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:04,480
Speaker 1: dive into a lot more of the individual stories in

623
00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:06,920
Speaker 1: their careers. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys, and

624
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:08,320
Speaker 1: I will see you on Monday. I hope you have a

625
00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:32,120
Speaker 1: great weekend. The volume