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Speaker 1: to HOOPSADI. You're at the volume heavy Wednesday, everybody, Oh PA.

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Speaker 1: If you guys are having a great week so far,

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Speaker 1: we got a jam packed show for you today. NBA

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Speaker 1: Media Day was Monday, and we've assembled quotes from eight

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Speaker 1: different teams that we're going to bounce around the league.

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Speaker 1: Talk a little bit about some of the stuff we

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Speaker 1: heard in the season opening press conferences, and then at

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Speaker 1: the tail end of the show, we're continuing our season

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Speaker 1: preview series power Ranking style with number seven the Minnesota Timberwolves,

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Speaker 1: so deep dive on the Timberwolves, and then eight additional

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Speaker 1: teams in Media Day quotes off the top. You guys

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Speaker 1: know the drill. Before we get started, subscribe to Hoops

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

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Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at underscore JSNLT so you guys

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Speaker 1: don't miss you announcements, don't forget about our podcast few

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Speaker 1: review on that front. And last but not least, keep

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Speaker 1: dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments. We will be

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Speaker 1: doing a mailbag on Friday that centers around the media

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Speaker 1: day all of the quotes and stuff that we're floating

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Speaker 1: around from media Day. So if you have anything related

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Speaker 1: to a specific quote that you saw that you thought

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Speaker 1: was interesting, or maybe just some notes from the first

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Speaker 1: we'll get to those on Friday. And then, last but

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Speaker 1: Game time? All right, let's talk some basketball. So eight

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Speaker 1: different teams were hitting with media Day quotes. I wanted

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Speaker 1: to start with the Golden State Warriors. So there's two

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Speaker 1: different things I want to hit on. Both actually involved Draymond.

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Speaker 1: The first was Draymond and what Kyle Anderson said Draymond

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Speaker 1: has been saying to him behind the scenes, which is

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Speaker 1: that Kyle anders is a five now, meaning at the

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Speaker 1: center position. So there was a little bit of a

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Speaker 1: hoopla there from Warriors fans semming around the fact that

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Speaker 1: they kind of view themselves as too small at this

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Speaker 1: point and the idea of Kyle Anderson playing center not

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Speaker 1: being a great idea right now. It remains to be

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Speaker 1: seen how often Kyle and Anderson will actually play center.

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Speaker 1: I didn't interpret that as like, oh, Kyle Anderson is

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Speaker 1: going to be playing the majority of his minutes at center.

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Speaker 1: I think Trace Jackson Davis is going to play a

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Speaker 1: lot of center. I think Kavon Looney is going to

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Speaker 1: play a lot of center. Draymond Green obviously is going

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Speaker 1: to play a lot of center. I would imagine all

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Speaker 1: three of those guys will play a lot more center

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Speaker 1: than Kyle Anderson. I looked at it more as like

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Speaker 1: the way that I've always viewed Golden State's offensive system

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Speaker 1: is basically three guys who run action and two guys

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Speaker 1: that are dribble handoff fulcrums are screening fulcrums from the perimeter.

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Speaker 1: This is a kind of a concept within five out

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Speaker 1: that we talk a lot about, right Like, if you imagine,

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Speaker 1: let's say on the strong side of the floor in

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Speaker 1: years past, you got let's say it's Kay Thompson. Actually,

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Speaker 1: let's just look forward to this year. So let's say

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Speaker 1: it's Steph coming out of the corner, and you've got

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Speaker 1: let's say, Andrew Wiggins screening down for him. As Steph

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Speaker 1: comes off into a dribble hand off with Draymond right.

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Speaker 1: What ends up happening is Draymond throws the dribble hand off,

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Speaker 1: then he kind of rolls into open space, right. But

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Speaker 1: if Steph comes off that action and nothing's open, like

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Speaker 1: he can't get a three, he's not getting downhill into

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Speaker 1: the lane, or maybe he gets a little bit downhill

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Speaker 1: but doesn't get too much in the way of dribble penetration.

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Speaker 1: Draymond's rolling, he's not open. The next read there, Kyle Anderson.

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Speaker 1: In this case, the second big would be flashing to

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Speaker 1: the high post so that he can catch a swing

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Speaker 1: pass from Steph and then flow into a dribble handoff

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Speaker 1: on the other side of the floor, right, and it's

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Speaker 1: gonna work back and forth. And this is been of

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Speaker 1: basically what the Warriors have done offensively for years, whether

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Speaker 1: it's Draymond and Kevon Looni, whether it's Draymond and Andrew Boget,

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Speaker 1: whether it's Draymon and JaVale McGee, whether it's Draymond even

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Speaker 1: with Andre Guidala out there sometimes back in the day. Right. So,

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Speaker 1: like Golden State's system is kind of typically built around

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Speaker 1: two non shooters who are more dribble handoff Folkrum's and

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Speaker 1: then three guys that are typically more aggressive shooters that

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Speaker 1: are looking to score coming off of these actions. So

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Speaker 1: the way I interpreted that is like, yeah, Kyle Anderson,

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Speaker 1: guess what like you're slotting into when you're playing next

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Speaker 1: to Draymond, What Kevin Looney did, what Trace Jackson Davis did,

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Speaker 1: what Andrew Bogat did, which is functioning as a center

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Speaker 1: on offense. That was more the way that I looked

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Speaker 1: at it. That said, I do think that Kyle Anderson

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Speaker 1: will see some minutes at the five, and it's something

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Speaker 1: that he's done periodically through his career and done a

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Speaker 1: good job of why. He's a very vocal communicator on

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Speaker 1: defense and just general, very smart defensive player, and so

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Speaker 1: like if he's calling out coverages and dictating when to

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Speaker 1: help or when to stay home, he's typically pretty good

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Speaker 1: at that sort of thing. He's a good rebounder for

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Speaker 1: his position. Kyle Anderson's just a good basketball player, and

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Speaker 1: so like, I didn't read too much into that. I think, like,

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Speaker 1: trust me, guys like the Warriors are still going to

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Speaker 1: be looking if they can see a decent option to

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Speaker 1: upgrade somebody at the center position. I still think you're

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Speaker 1: going to see a lot of Trace Jackson Davis. I

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Speaker 1: still think you're gonna see a lot Kavon Loney. There's

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Speaker 1: a rumor that Trace Jackson Davis has grown an inch

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Speaker 1: that came out of camp. Now I shouldn't say rumor

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Speaker 1: was directly mentioned in interviews, but like you always got

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Speaker 1: to take some of that stuff with the grain of salt,

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Speaker 1: like the I lost a bunch of weight, or I

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Speaker 1: gained a bunch of weight, or I got taller, like

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Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff I'm always a little bit

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Speaker 1: skeptical of. But like, I'm not necessarily worried about the

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Speaker 1: center position as much for the Golden State Warriors as

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Speaker 1: I am. Just who's going to be the primary second,

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Speaker 1: I should say, the secondary shot creator whenever STEP's not

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Speaker 1: trying to create offense. That's really where I see issues

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Speaker 1: on this particular team. But I'm not worried about Kylie

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Speaker 1: Anderson in his fit, and he does function as a

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Speaker 1: center in the offensive system that Golden State wants to run.

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Speaker 1: The second thing was that heated interaction that Draymond had

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Speaker 1: with that reporter, And basically I'm not gonna get too

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Speaker 1: far into it. Basically the reporter was kind of beating

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Speaker 1: around the bush to confront Draymond on the idea of

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Speaker 1: his availability, which has been not related to injury. It's

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Speaker 1: been related to his behavior, right, And like last year

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Speaker 1: it was an issue they Draymond missing as much time

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Speaker 1: as he did hurt the basketball team, and so Draymond

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Speaker 1: got kind of defensive and got a little snippy with

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Speaker 1: the reporter. Some of this I think, like I think

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Speaker 1: like athletes struggle to understand, like like that's his job,

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Speaker 1: you know, like that specifically is that reporter's job? Now,

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Speaker 1: do some reporters go too far in the way that

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Speaker 1: they try to manipulate questions or try to bait guys

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Speaker 1: into saying something, Yeah, you're right about that. But at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day, like if like in the

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Speaker 1: same way that my job is to break down games

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Speaker 1: and give my opinions on the teams, for those beat reporters,

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Speaker 1: in many cases, they're going into that like they're they're

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Speaker 1: going into that press conference with the job of trying

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Speaker 1: to get a quote, okay, and typically they're going to

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Speaker 1: try to get quotes that are centered around the biggest

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Speaker 1: stories of the team, and like it or not, One

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Speaker 1: of the stories surrounding the Golden State Warriors in the

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Speaker 1: last year was Draymond's availability, in large part because of

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Speaker 1: his inability to control his emotions when he's on the floor,

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Speaker 1: and so, like my thing. In Draymond's response, he was like,

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Speaker 1: I'm here. I've been here for thirteen years now, been

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Speaker 1: here pretty much every night for thirteen years, and you're right.

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Speaker 1: For the most part. Over the course of his career,

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Speaker 1: he has been available, but in big spots he's been unavailable.

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Speaker 1: Right twenty sixteen makes himself unavailable for Game five of

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Speaker 1: the NBA Finals. Obviously last year misses substantial chunks of time.

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Speaker 1: And so my thing is, like, it's fair, Draymond, for

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Speaker 1: reporters and for your teammates and for coaching people in

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Speaker 1: the coaching staff to be like, hey, like, dude, are

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Speaker 1: you going to be professional on a night in a

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Speaker 1: night out basis this year so we don't have to

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Speaker 1: worry about whether or not you're gonna be available to play.

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Speaker 1: I think it's a reasonable question. This isn't like I

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Speaker 1: can't remember what her name is. The female reporter who

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Speaker 1: like questioned Dejona Carrington about like a celebration that she

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Speaker 1: had with one of her teammates and like trying to

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Speaker 1: insinuate that it was like mimicking her poking Caitlin Clark

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Speaker 1: in the eye, which, in addition to just being wrong,

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Speaker 1: was like a blatant false attempt to try to like

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Speaker 1: bait Dejeona Carrington into saying something that was damaging that

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Speaker 1: to me has like crossed the line, right, But like

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Speaker 1: questioning Draymond on his ability to be available for his team,

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Speaker 1: I think is completely fair and quite frankly, he should

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Speaker 1: have expected as he went into that press conference that

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Speaker 1: that was something that was going to be asked of him.

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Speaker 1: And you know what, it wouldn't hurt to just sit

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Speaker 1: there and be like, yeah, you know what, I let

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Speaker 1: my team down last year. This year, it's not going

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Speaker 1: to happen. You guys can count on me. Boom. End

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Speaker 1: of story. There's a quote for you. It's a quote

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Speaker 1: that everyone takes to the article and it makes you

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Speaker 1: look like a self aware and dedicated teammate. So, like,

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Speaker 1: I was a little disappointed in that, but at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, I do think Draymond gets it.

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Speaker 1: Even if that even if that interaction with the reporter

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Speaker 1: was a little nasty, I do think Draymond gets it,

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Speaker 1: Like I think he knows that he can't do what

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Speaker 1: he did last year, that this team isn't talented enough

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Speaker 1: to compete when he's not there. Moving on to the

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Speaker 1: Philadelphia seventy six ers, a quote from Joel Embiide, I

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Speaker 1: think me, Daryl will tell you this. As soon as

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Speaker 1: we lost last year, I texted him. Embiid said, I

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Speaker 1: was like, we got to do whatever it takes to

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Speaker 1: make sure I'm in the postseason healthy. This year, there's

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Speaker 1: no agenda, no All Star, there's no All MBA, there's

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Speaker 1: none of that. There's whatever it takes to make sure

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Speaker 1: that I get to that point and that I'm ready

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Speaker 1: to go. Embid also insinuated that he has lost somewhere

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Speaker 1: between twenty five and thirty pounds. Now, as I mentioned earlier,

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Speaker 1: the weight loss, the weight gain that I put on muscle,

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Speaker 1: the I grew taller stuff. I'm always a little bit

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Speaker 1: skeptical of that. But let's just say for the sake

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Speaker 1: of argument, that this is Embiid's approach, that he's improved

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Speaker 1: his physical conditioning, and that his order of operations in

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Speaker 1: terms of what he've used as important within this season

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Speaker 1: is just simply get to the postseason healthy rather than

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Speaker 1: pursuing regular season accolades. That's exactly what their approach should be.

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Speaker 1: The team is built in a way that kind of

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Speaker 1: managed that right. Like Andre Drummond is one of the

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Speaker 1: better backup center options that you have in the league.

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Speaker 1: He's a guy that could certainly start thirty forty games

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Speaker 1: at center if you needed him to. You've got tons

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Speaker 1: of shock creation with Paul George and Tyrese Maxi. You

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Speaker 1: hit on some veteran minimum signings that I liked. That

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Speaker 1: team is built to be able to withstand and be

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Speaker 1: missing games and for them to float around five hundred,

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Speaker 1: which is all you really need in the Eastern Conference

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Speaker 1: to be a team that's above the play in And

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Speaker 1: so if that's the approach and they combine that with

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Speaker 1: himb being in better physical conditioning from the start, I

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Speaker 1: think that makes it more likely that he is ready

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Speaker 1: to go when he gets to the postseason. And there's

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Speaker 1: like everything's theoretical with Embiid, Like Embiid's always struggled in

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Speaker 1: the postseason, but it's been a combination of like injuries

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Speaker 1: and some of his shortcomings and his approach right relying

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Speaker 1: on the jump shot, relying on foul drifting right, not

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Speaker 1: having too much of a physical aggressive play towards the basket, right,

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Speaker 1: And it's not any one thing or the other. Like,

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Speaker 1: I do believe that Embiide has consistently dealt with injuries

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Speaker 1: and that that would certainly be a benefit to him

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Speaker 1: if he could get to April and be ready to

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Speaker 1: rock and roll. Right. But the flip side of that is, like,

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Speaker 1: there are some legitimate shortcomings for him in the postseason,

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Speaker 1: but step one is he's got to get their healthy,

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Speaker 1: and that's something that we haven't seen in the last

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Speaker 1: couple of years. So I did think that that was

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Speaker 1: an encouraging sign of Philly's approach coming into the season,

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Speaker 1: even if it was the obvious direction that they needed

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Speaker 1: to go. On the Lakers front, there was kind of

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Speaker 1: a weird a bunch of interesting stuff. I wanted to

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Speaker 1: talk a little bit about D'Angel Russell off the top,

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Speaker 1: and then we'll talk a little bit more about some

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Speaker 1: of the other quotes that we saw. So quote from

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Speaker 1: dlo I think for me, honestly, I think I really

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Speaker 1: wanted to apologize in the sense of showing a lack

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Speaker 1: of professionalism at times, showing a lack of team first

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Speaker 1: perception at times. So for me, I think just kind

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Speaker 1: of keeping that maturity in that professionalism throughout the year,

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Speaker 1: no matter the ups and downs. I guess I appreciate

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Speaker 1: that Delo wants to be better, But like I didn't

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Speaker 1: think a lack of professionalism was an issue for dl

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Speaker 1: last year. Like I thought, you know, I said before

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Speaker 1: the season last year, and I was wrong. But I

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Speaker 1: said before the season last year, I thought the safest

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Speaker 1: bet in the NBA was that Delo would get traded.

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Speaker 1: I just like I still feel like a Delo trade

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Speaker 1: is coming down the pipeline simply because he's not a

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Speaker 1: part of the big picture for the Lakers. He's a

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Speaker 1: large expiring salary, but most importantly him and us and

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Speaker 1: or redundant. It's a matter of like you need to

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Speaker 1: pair Austin with somebody that actually compliments his skill set

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Speaker 1: more than he actually does. It's a lot of people

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Speaker 1: talk about the you know I have I have comments

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Speaker 1: still to this day from people are like, why you

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Speaker 1: sit down on Delo? Why so down on Dela? I

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Speaker 1: my opinion of de Lo has skyrocketed since he joined

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Speaker 1: the Lakers. I do. I think that he has major

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Speaker 1: shortcomings that consistently show up in the postseason. Yeah, but

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Speaker 1: the dude is a good leader. He is. He absolutely

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Speaker 1: handled it with professionalism last year. As I said, I

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Speaker 1: said it was a safe bet that he got traded

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Speaker 1: all year long, he was in trade rumors, and he

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Speaker 1: kind of just handled that like a champ and just

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Speaker 1: handled it like a professional. So like I didn't see

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Speaker 1: that as being an issue. And then as far as

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Speaker 1: Dela as a player, I still think he's a very

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Speaker 1: very good regular season player, a very useful regular season player.

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Speaker 1: Spaces the floor, can run action, can kind of be

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Speaker 1: an offensive hub for stretches if you want. In general,

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Speaker 1: just a very very good off ball player with really

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Speaker 1: with a knack for like screening and cutting and slipping

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Speaker 1: and all those little different read and react things that

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Speaker 1: make a good basketball player. My opinion of Dlo as skyrocket,

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Speaker 1: And as far as the trade thing goes, I don't

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Speaker 1: even necessarily think Dlo needs to be traded this year.

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Speaker 1: I just think his spot or Rui's spot needs a

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Speaker 1: massive upgrade, Like if one of those two becomes a

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Speaker 1: supreme athlete who can play on both ends of the floor.

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Speaker 1: That makes the Lakers demonstrably better. So if it's like

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Speaker 1: Austin Dilo and then a massive upgrade at the three

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Speaker 1: and then Lebron and Ad, I think that can work.

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Speaker 1: If it's Austin Ruey, Lebron and Ad and then a

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Speaker 1: massive upgrade of Delo spot, I think that could work.

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Speaker 1: But like all of my talk about trading Dlo, has

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Speaker 1: nothing to do with who Dilo is as a player.

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Speaker 1: It has everything to do with just finding more roster

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Speaker 1: balance within the Lakers. I am a huge fan of

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Speaker 1: d Lo. I'm excited to watch him this year. He's

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Speaker 1: a big part of why I'm optimistic about the Lakers

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Speaker 1: to start this season. I think the Lakers are going

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Speaker 1: to be a good team right away this year. In

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Speaker 1: A big part of that is the continuity and the

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Speaker 1: offensive firepower, of which a big chunk is D'Angelo Russ.

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Speaker 1: Do I have issues with them as a potential team

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Speaker 1: that could win four playoff rounds? Yeah, And one of

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Speaker 1: the pathways to fix that is via d Loo. But

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Speaker 1: I don't think he needs to apologize. I don't think

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Speaker 1: he needs to do anything different. If he came out

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Speaker 1: and had the exact same season he had last year.

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Speaker 1: I would be pleased. Obviously, it would help for him

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Speaker 1: to be a little bit better on the defensive end,

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Speaker 1: a little bit more attentive, fewer mistakes, and I think

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Speaker 1: he will have a better defensive season on the strength

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Speaker 1: of some of the structure that JJ Reddick is putting in.

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Speaker 1: But like I thought, dlo is a little too hard

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Speaker 1: on himself with the way that he approached that specific concept.

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Speaker 1: A couple other just notes from Laker media Day, there's

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Speaker 1: a lot of positivity coming around, just the vibes. Yovann Bouja.

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Speaker 1: You guys know, he comes on the show quite a bit.

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Speaker 1: We're actually looking at potentially having him back on here

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Speaker 1: in the next couple of weeks. But Yovan is an example,

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Speaker 1: said that he's been covering the team for five years

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Speaker 1: and that it was the best like kind of vibes

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Speaker 1: and positivity that he had seen in his time covering

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Speaker 1: the team. That's encouraging, right, talk about structure, a lot

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Speaker 1: of talk about systems being put in, a lot of

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Speaker 1: talks about productivity and their practice approach, a lot of

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Speaker 1: talk about emphasizing shooting more threes. A lot of really

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Speaker 1: encouraging stuff out of Lakers camp. I'm really really excited

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Speaker 1: to watch that team start playing some games. The Celtics.

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum had an interesting quote. He said, I just

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Speaker 1: always feel like, overall, I can still get better. You

385
00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:41,479
Speaker 1: haven't seen the best version of Jason Tatum, and you shouldn't, right,

386
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Speaker 1: I'm only twenty six. I should continue to keep getting better.

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Speaker 1: I one hundred percent agree with him. I generally am

388
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Speaker 1: of the opinion that a basketball player hits their peak

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Speaker 1: between age thirty and thirty two. I think that's the

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Speaker 1: sweet spot, where like their physical gifts are still like

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Speaker 1: ninety ninety five five percent of what they were when

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Speaker 1: they were young, but they have a decade of experience

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Speaker 1: playing professional basketball and now just their overall understanding of

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Speaker 1: how to read and react at the NBA level, little

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Speaker 1: details about how to win basketball games, all of the

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Speaker 1: ups and downs of losing to a team that's a

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Speaker 1: bad matchup, or experiencing the highs and the lows. The

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Speaker 1: I talk about that scar tissue of losing, Like Tatum's

399
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Speaker 1: just seen so much already, all the big games that

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Speaker 1: he's been in, and I think Tatum will hit his

401
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Speaker 1: ceiling a little earlier just because he's been playing in

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Speaker 1: really big games for so long, So for Tatum, it's

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Speaker 1: probably more like twenty eight to thirty. But I do

404
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Speaker 1: think there's a better version of Jason Tatum in there.

405
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Speaker 1: There's a Jason Tatum in there that takes fewer bad shots.

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Speaker 1: I think Jason Tatum has clearly made a commitment to

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Speaker 1: becoming a good pull up shooter. He is not a

408
00:19:50,359 --> 00:19:54,400
Speaker 1: good pull up shooter. But eventually, just by process of repetition,

409
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Speaker 1: there's a good chance that by the time he's twenty

410
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Speaker 1: eight to thirty that eventually he'll come around and at

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Speaker 1: least become a little bit better. Will he ever become

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Speaker 1: the type of pull up shooter that some of his

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00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:06,720
Speaker 1: small forward piers around the leagues are around the league are?

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Speaker 1: I don't know, Probably not, but like he certainly will

415
00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:12,560
Speaker 1: be able to come. I think there's still a considerable

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Speaker 1: amount of improvement that he can show there, just by

417
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Speaker 1: virtue of the fact that he's working so hard at it.

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Speaker 1: Like you know, he's working hard at he's taken so

419
00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:23,399
Speaker 1: many every single game, the repetition will eventually lead to improvement,

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Speaker 1: and then just again, like the by age twenty eight

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00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:29,280
Speaker 1: age thirty, he's going to have a decade of NBA

422
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Speaker 1: experience and just he's gonna have been in so many wars. Hell,

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Speaker 1: he's already been in so many wars. I do think

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Speaker 1: Jason Tatum will be a better basketball player in the

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Speaker 1: next you know, three four years. Will he ever be

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Speaker 1: the best player in the league. I don't think that

427
00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:46,120
Speaker 1: is really in the potential outcome for him. I think

428
00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:48,159
Speaker 1: the players at the top are just they have like

429
00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:52,040
Speaker 1: just these true super like superpowers that kind of reach

430
00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:54,560
Speaker 1: a level that that Tatum can't reach. But I do

431
00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:56,920
Speaker 1: think that Jason Tatum will continue to improve over the

432
00:20:56,960 --> 00:20:58,840
Speaker 1: next several years, and that is scary for a Boston

433
00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:01,240
Speaker 1: Celtics team that I believe has by far the most

434
00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:04,720
Speaker 1: talent in the NBA. Denver Nuggets a lot of interesting

435
00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:09,560
Speaker 1: stuff surrounding Russell Westbrook. Mike Malone had some quotes. He said,

436
00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:11,399
Speaker 1: russ was in the gym yesterday and there was just

437
00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:14,480
Speaker 1: a different energy. I can't explain it. His voice, his leadership,

438
00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:17,120
Speaker 1: his competitive spirit are all things that are not only

439
00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:19,040
Speaker 1: going to help this team, but they're really going to

440
00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:22,320
Speaker 1: help individual players achieve their potential and push them to

441
00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:23,840
Speaker 1: be the best that they can be. I love that

442
00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:26,520
Speaker 1: he's here. I love guys that bring it every single night,

443
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:29,679
Speaker 1: and that's what he's done every single game he's ever played.

444
00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:33,080
Speaker 1: Jokic said, I know who he is a little bit

445
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:36,360
Speaker 1: outside of the court, great teammate, vocal leadership, the guy

446
00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:37,879
Speaker 1: you want to listen to, the leader you want to

447
00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:41,800
Speaker 1: follow in the gym. So one additional I have two

448
00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:45,240
Speaker 1: additional Westbrook kind of topics that I want to get to,

449
00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:46,960
Speaker 1: but before we move forward, I want to just hit

450
00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:49,840
Speaker 1: touch on these really quick. Is the energy piece is

451
00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:52,480
Speaker 1: always the thing that people are initially drawn to with Russ,

452
00:21:53,080 --> 00:21:56,560
Speaker 1: and anybody who's actually covered Russ very closely or rooted

453
00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:58,840
Speaker 1: for him on a team that he was actually playing for,

454
00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:03,280
Speaker 1: you know that like Russ does every single night have

455
00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:07,879
Speaker 1: moments where he gets very emotionally worked up and brings

456
00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:12,240
Speaker 1: a lot of energy. And so that consistency can lead

457
00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:15,680
Speaker 1: to a reputation of being a guy who plays hard

458
00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:17,880
Speaker 1: every single game that he's played in. Right, Like Mike

459
00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:22,200
Speaker 1: Malone said, but the issue with Russ isn't about whether

460
00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:24,200
Speaker 1: or not he can get to that level every night.

461
00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:25,960
Speaker 1: It's whether or not he can get to that level

462
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:31,240
Speaker 1: every possession. Russ has a tendency to float on defense

463
00:22:31,359 --> 00:22:34,200
Speaker 1: off the ball, he'll kind of drift into the paint

464
00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:38,359
Speaker 1: to hunt defensive rebounds, consistently loses a track of shooters,

465
00:22:38,400 --> 00:22:41,480
Speaker 1: consistently falls asleep within the game plan discipline, and it

466
00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:46,120
Speaker 1: can be damaging because there are always like there will

467
00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:49,840
Speaker 1: be dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of highlights

468
00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:52,240
Speaker 1: this year, I should say low lights of Russell Westbrook

469
00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:55,119
Speaker 1: where like he's standing out of the defensive stands, not

470
00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:57,320
Speaker 1: paying attention and a dude just swoops right behind him

471
00:22:57,320 --> 00:22:59,840
Speaker 1: and gets an offensive rebound or backcuts him for a

472
00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:03,000
Speaker 1: or like he's guarding the ball and he just isn't

473
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,120
Speaker 1: paying attention to the guy just drives right around him,

474
00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:08,120
Speaker 1: or like just in general, like a lack of attention

475
00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,000
Speaker 1: to detail. There's we're gonna talk about Russ's defense in

476
00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:15,000
Speaker 1: a minute. Russ is still when he's trying, not just

477
00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:18,600
Speaker 1: a good point of attack defender, like a devastatingly good

478
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:20,719
Speaker 1: point of attack defender. And that's the real upside here.

479
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:22,560
Speaker 1: We're gonna get to that in a minute. But in

480
00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:24,720
Speaker 1: terms of like this idea of like I'm just trying

481
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,680
Speaker 1: to warn Denver fans, like if you're under the impression

482
00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:30,120
Speaker 1: that Russ is going to play hard every single possession

483
00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:32,960
Speaker 1: and avoid mistakes. That is not who he is. It

484
00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:35,359
Speaker 1: just never has been. He is a guy that brings

485
00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:39,520
Speaker 1: emotion every night, that comes in waves, but he has

486
00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:43,280
Speaker 1: actually really poor possession to possession focus and it will

487
00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:46,600
Speaker 1: drive you crazy. I'm just saying that from experience. Talk

488
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:48,919
Speaker 1: to Clippers fans will say the same thing. Talk to

489
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:50,920
Speaker 1: Rockets fans will say the same thing. Talk to thunder

490
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:54,200
Speaker 1: fans will say the same thing. Talk to Wizards fans,

491
00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:56,640
Speaker 1: they'll tell you the same thing. It's a consistent thing,

492
00:23:57,240 --> 00:24:00,000
Speaker 1: and and he's been in the league for so long now.

493
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:01,479
Speaker 1: I just don't see it as something that he's going

494
00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,439
Speaker 1: to dramatically change at this point in his career. A

495
00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:08,760
Speaker 1: specific quote from Westbrook talking about previous teams. To be honest,

496
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,240
Speaker 1: it was unique. They just didn't put me in position

497
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:13,960
Speaker 1: to make it unique. I was in a position where

498
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:16,679
Speaker 1: I was not playing my position. Being able to be

499
00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:18,760
Speaker 1: here and Coach Malone allowing me to be able to

500
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:21,880
Speaker 1: use my speed, use my transition skill to be able

501
00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:24,480
Speaker 1: to make other guys better, makes the game easy for

502
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:27,919
Speaker 1: everybody surrounding me. And that's what I love to do best.

503
00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:31,840
Speaker 1: The idea that the Lakers and Clippers didn't give Russell

504
00:24:31,880 --> 00:24:37,560
Speaker 1: Westbrook opportunities to be Russell Westbrook is completely asinine. Both teams,

505
00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:43,400
Speaker 1: at extended stretches gave Russ the keys. Both teams also

506
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:46,640
Speaker 1: asked Russ to do things off the ball. Those were

507
00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:49,840
Speaker 1: a struggle. The on ball reps with Russ are a

508
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:53,080
Speaker 1: mixed bag. You'll have stretches where it looks great. You'll

509
00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:57,880
Speaker 1: have games where it looks great, but in the large sample,

510
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:02,320
Speaker 1: there's just as many mistakes as there are productive plays,

511
00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:07,000
Speaker 1: and it doesn't really net out to a quality offensive hub.

512
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:08,760
Speaker 1: Not at this point in his career. He's lost a

513
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:11,639
Speaker 1: little bit of a step. His rim finishing is atrocious,

514
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,280
Speaker 1: and he can't shoot the basketball. He's a very gifted

515
00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:16,199
Speaker 1: playmaker still at this point in his career, and you

516
00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:19,239
Speaker 1: will have stretches where it looks really good. But the

517
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:21,840
Speaker 1: idea that the Lakers and Clippers didn't give Russ an

518
00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:24,800
Speaker 1: opportunity is completely asinine. He will be asked to do

519
00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:27,680
Speaker 1: the exact same stuff with Denver that he was asked

520
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:30,400
Speaker 1: to do with the Lakers and Clippers, and his success

521
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:33,440
Speaker 1: and efficiency in those situations I expect to look roughly

522
00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:36,399
Speaker 1: the same. So let's look at one other quote and

523
00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:39,160
Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about the upside with Russell Westbrook.

524
00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:41,679
Speaker 1: Michael Lohan said, it's funny. I think when people talk

525
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:44,840
Speaker 1: about Russell Westbrook, no one really mentions defense. When we

526
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:47,080
Speaker 1: went back and watched as a staff as defense last

527
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:48,840
Speaker 1: year with the Clippers, end of games, he was on

528
00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:51,359
Speaker 1: the opposing team's best player every night. So you have

529
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:53,520
Speaker 1: a guy that you can close games with. You have

530
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:55,199
Speaker 1: a guy that you can close games with, Russell Westbrook,

531
00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,160
Speaker 1: who knows the league, knows personnel, and has the respective officials,

532
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,960
Speaker 1: and has competitive I'm going to get in your mindset

533
00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:04,560
Speaker 1: that I love. So again, as we talked about, it's

534
00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:06,520
Speaker 1: all about making sure that Russ is on the right

535
00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:09,760
Speaker 1: type of matchup. Russ at this point in his career

536
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:14,040
Speaker 1: is still a devastatingly good on ball defender, especially against

537
00:26:14,040 --> 00:26:17,639
Speaker 1: players that have athletic traits, because he's got really quick

538
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:20,240
Speaker 1: feet and he's got a low center of gravity and

539
00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:22,640
Speaker 1: he's super strong, so he will beat you to spots

540
00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,800
Speaker 1: and disrupt your base as well as anybody in the league.

541
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:30,040
Speaker 1: He's excellent guarding forwards. He's excellent in his back pressure

542
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:34,720
Speaker 1: to Mike Malone's point when I watched Russ's playoff footage

543
00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:37,119
Speaker 1: from both of the last two years with the Clippers,

544
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:42,760
Speaker 1: the on ball defense is legitimately terrifyingly good, Like that

545
00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:46,880
Speaker 1: is legitimately real. But everything I said about him off

546
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:49,800
Speaker 1: the ball is also real. His attention to detail within

547
00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:53,600
Speaker 1: the defensive game plan, the lapses, they are damaging. And

548
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,160
Speaker 1: so have you asked me, like, what does it look

549
00:26:56,280 --> 00:27:00,000
Speaker 1: like for Russell Westbrook within Denver for everything to work,

550
00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,760
Speaker 1: work and to come together. It is about on the

551
00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:07,320
Speaker 1: offensive end, when he's playing with the starters. I want

552
00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:09,720
Speaker 1: to kind of like shelve that for a second, Okay,

553
00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:13,639
Speaker 1: but it's about just within those bench units when he

554
00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:17,200
Speaker 1: gets handed the keys, making fewer mistakes, having the good

555
00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:19,680
Speaker 1: plays outweigh the bad plays. And then on the defensive

556
00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:22,080
Speaker 1: end of the floor, it's about unleashing him in an

557
00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:24,960
Speaker 1: on ball roll because when he is on the ball,

558
00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:28,760
Speaker 1: he makes fewer mistakes and he leverages his athletics gifts

559
00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:31,919
Speaker 1: at a higher level. Russ like takes it personal, and

560
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:34,119
Speaker 1: so he gets very very focused on a possession by

561
00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:36,480
Speaker 1: possession basis when he's on the ball. But if you

562
00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:39,399
Speaker 1: put him on an off ball roll to track a shooter.

563
00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:41,479
Speaker 1: That's where you're going to start to get some of

564
00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,680
Speaker 1: the negative plays that come with Russell Westbrook. Let's zoom

565
00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:46,440
Speaker 1: in on Russ with the starters though, because this is

566
00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:50,880
Speaker 1: the other thing, Like to Russ's point about like playing

567
00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:54,280
Speaker 1: his style and being allowed to be unique, you can't

568
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:57,119
Speaker 1: do that with the starters. When it's Aaron Gordon and

569
00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:03,159
Speaker 1: nikoliokicch and Michael Porter Jr. And Jamal Murray. He's not

570
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:06,320
Speaker 1: going to be playing Russell Westbrook basketball. He's going to

571
00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:09,560
Speaker 1: be sliding into the KCP role or the Christian Brown role,

572
00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:13,640
Speaker 1: right and in that specific role, it is so much

573
00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:18,720
Speaker 1: about off ball read and react, meaning like screening for

574
00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:21,000
Speaker 1: a guy like Michael Porter Junior, or screening for a

575
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,040
Speaker 1: guy like Jamal Murray, reading where the defenders are going

576
00:28:24,119 --> 00:28:27,480
Speaker 1: and slipping to the basket. Over the course of the

577
00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:30,960
Speaker 1: last three seasons with the Lakers and the Clippers, there

578
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,919
Speaker 1: was a lot of moments where where Russ when he

579
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:38,200
Speaker 1: was off the ball, teams were like both of those teams,

580
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:41,280
Speaker 1: the Lakers and the Clippers, were trying and begging Russ

581
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:45,120
Speaker 1: to function more as an off ball screener and cutter

582
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:47,960
Speaker 1: and he simply would not do it. He didn't do

583
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:50,520
Speaker 1: it with the Lakers, he didn't do it with the Clippers.

584
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:53,040
Speaker 1: And so again, like this is my last kind of

585
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:56,240
Speaker 1: thing on the Russell Westbrook stuff, there is a version

586
00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,800
Speaker 1: of this that works. There is a version of this

587
00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:03,239
Speaker 1: where Russ with the core lineups, works hard as an

588
00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:06,000
Speaker 1: off ball screener and cutter. Make sure that he only

589
00:29:06,040 --> 00:29:08,680
Speaker 1: takes wide open corner threes instead of above the breakthrees,

590
00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:11,800
Speaker 1: and doesn't hunt them but looks more to take really

591
00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:14,800
Speaker 1: really high quality ones. You focus him on an on

592
00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:17,840
Speaker 1: ball defensive role, and you get a positive outcome out

593
00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:23,040
Speaker 1: of Russell Westbrook. But his personal history tells us that

594
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:26,040
Speaker 1: he doesn't want to do that stuff. And so let's

595
00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:28,120
Speaker 1: just put it this way. If it worked, and this

596
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:29,640
Speaker 1: is the one I'm just saying this in defense of

597
00:29:29,680 --> 00:29:33,080
Speaker 1: the Lakers and Clippers. If it does work out with

598
00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,479
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook this season in Denver, it will be because

599
00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:41,240
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook changed who he was as a basketball player

600
00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:44,400
Speaker 1: and became more focused on the things that Denver specifically

601
00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:48,480
Speaker 1: needed him to do. It is not because Denver finally

602
00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:51,160
Speaker 1: unleashed Russ when the Lakers and the Clippers and the

603
00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:53,360
Speaker 1: Rockets and all these other teams couldn't. That's not what

604
00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:56,480
Speaker 1: it is. It like both of those teams. Like as

605
00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:58,400
Speaker 1: much as you want to talk about Darvin Ham and

606
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:00,680
Speaker 1: some of his limitations as a coach, tylou is one

607
00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:03,160
Speaker 1: of the best coaches in the league. That team needed

608
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,320
Speaker 1: a point guard and it still had all of the

609
00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:10,920
Speaker 1: same issues that you saw with the Lakers, and like,

610
00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:13,720
Speaker 1: and I even thought it fit a little better with

611
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:16,640
Speaker 1: the Clippers within the Lakers because they needed his specific

612
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,240
Speaker 1: position group, but it still had all of those same

613
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:23,440
Speaker 1: specific issues. So again, like, maybe it works, but stop

614
00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:27,880
Speaker 1: blaming everybody else for the issues that have perpetually plagued

615
00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 1: you over the course of the tail end of your career.

616
00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:33,400
Speaker 1: Russ needs to change in order for things to work

617
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:37,200
Speaker 1: in Denver. We have three more teams win him pretty quickly.

618
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,040
Speaker 1: The Milwaukee Bucks quote from Lillard. When I look back

619
00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:42,680
Speaker 1: at last year, I was just trying to get through

620
00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:45,800
Speaker 1: the year. My teammates, my coaches, they're going through the

621
00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:47,880
Speaker 1: real They're going to get the real version of me.

622
00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:50,880
Speaker 1: I definitely feel more on the same page with him

623
00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:53,920
Speaker 1: now than I did last year regarding the honest So

624
00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:56,200
Speaker 1: that was one of the big stories from last year,

625
00:30:56,240 --> 00:30:58,160
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard obviously going through a bunch of stuff in

626
00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:02,080
Speaker 1: his personal life, substantial decreases in scoring volume and efficiency,

627
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:05,160
Speaker 1: him getting back to form and looking like the real me,

628
00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,120
Speaker 1: as he mentions, that would be a big swing factor

629
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:11,120
Speaker 1: for the Bucks. So hopefully those aren't just words and

630
00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:13,080
Speaker 1: that's the reality of what the Bucks get to get

631
00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:17,360
Speaker 1: out of Dame this year. Several quotes about the Bucks

632
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:20,160
Speaker 1: being overlooked. Doc said, well, we all pay attention to it.

633
00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:22,720
Speaker 1: On the Bucks being overlooked in the East, Giannis said,

634
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:26,880
Speaker 1: I think we've always been overlooked. Look, here's the thing, guys, Like,

635
00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:29,400
Speaker 1: if you win forty nine games in the in the

636
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:33,040
Speaker 1: Weak Eastern Conference, with dam and Giannis both playing seventy

637
00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:36,200
Speaker 1: three games, like, it's going to affect the way teams project.

638
00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:39,760
Speaker 1: I should say people in the like fan bases, media,

639
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,320
Speaker 1: they're going to project you based on the basketball that

640
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:45,240
Speaker 1: they saw. And last year you had plenty of opportunity

641
00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:48,239
Speaker 1: to make sure that people didn't overlook you and you

642
00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:52,360
Speaker 1: were a mediocre team. So like again, like I understand

643
00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:55,640
Speaker 1: why internally they may feel like they're better than their reputation.

644
00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:58,920
Speaker 1: I think they're probably a little better than their reputation,

645
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:03,240
Speaker 1: but they don't don't have the pedigree with this group,

646
00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:05,920
Speaker 1: not the past, they don't have the pedigree with this

647
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:10,760
Speaker 1: group in recent play. To justify being lumped in with

648
00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:16,080
Speaker 1: the top tier contenders in the NBA, Clippers, James Harden

649
00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:19,560
Speaker 1: said aggressive, aggressive on his mentality entering this season. We

650
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:21,800
Speaker 1: tried last year to where I'm trying to figure out

651
00:32:21,800 --> 00:32:24,160
Speaker 1: guys the roles. It was kind of difficult when you

652
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,760
Speaker 1: get that high caliber of players or Hall of famers

653
00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:30,080
Speaker 1: and basically the same position with everybody trying to figure

654
00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:32,440
Speaker 1: out the roles. It was pretty difficult. But this year

655
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:34,320
Speaker 1: for me, I got a clear space on what I

656
00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:36,960
Speaker 1: need to be doing on fitting in with Kawhi and Russ.

657
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:41,520
Speaker 1: Last year, I got a clear space on what I

658
00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:44,360
Speaker 1: need to be doing. End quote that was relating to

659
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:48,360
Speaker 1: his fit with Kawhi and Russ last year. I'm excited

660
00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:50,800
Speaker 1: about having an opportunity to be who I am again.

661
00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:53,680
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you one thing. It is definitely

662
00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:56,640
Speaker 1: going to involve a lot of me, not just because

663
00:32:56,680 --> 00:32:59,120
Speaker 1: I can create a shot and get guys involved. There's

664
00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:00,920
Speaker 1: always going to be tough. There was talk when I

665
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:03,120
Speaker 1: was in Houston when I was doing what I was doing.

666
00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:05,760
Speaker 1: You can't win like that. You just seen a guy

667
00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:08,040
Speaker 1: last season make it to the Finals playing the exact

668
00:33:08,040 --> 00:33:09,680
Speaker 1: same way that I play. So there is a way.

669
00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:12,160
Speaker 1: Your team has to be constructed very well, and you've

670
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:13,400
Speaker 1: got to have a little bit of luck and make

671
00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:17,240
Speaker 1: sure that you are healthy. So this is interesting because,

672
00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:19,920
Speaker 1: like I actually see upside with this approach for the

673
00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:23,040
Speaker 1: regular season. If you build the offense around James Harden

674
00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:25,480
Speaker 1: and you have the type of perimeter defense personnel that

675
00:33:25,520 --> 00:33:27,719
Speaker 1: the Clippers have and a rock solid starting center like

676
00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:29,959
Speaker 1: i Vikazubats, I think that they're gonna win a lot

677
00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:32,440
Speaker 1: of basketball games. I've said this before, but like I

678
00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:36,240
Speaker 1: think if they get just like kind of like baseline

679
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:38,400
Speaker 1: health out of James Harden and Kawhi, like even just

680
00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:41,160
Speaker 1: like fifty games out of Kuhi and sixty five games

681
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:43,080
Speaker 1: out of James Harden, I think that they're going to

682
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:44,880
Speaker 1: stay out of the plane. I think that James Harden's

683
00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:47,080
Speaker 1: just a really good kind of baseline offensive engine, and

684
00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:50,920
Speaker 1: I think they're just a scrappy, athletic young team on

685
00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:52,960
Speaker 1: the perimeter, and I think that that's going to drive

686
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,760
Speaker 1: a lot for them. Right. However, there's a huge difference

687
00:33:55,800 --> 00:33:58,840
Speaker 1: between James Harden and Luka Doncic, and like, there is

688
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:01,920
Speaker 1: a reason why that the Harden style hasn't worked at

689
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:04,280
Speaker 1: the highest level of the NBA playoffs, And there's a

690
00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:06,760
Speaker 1: reason why people say you can't win like that in

691
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:09,920
Speaker 1: respect to James Harden in a different way than they

692
00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:12,040
Speaker 1: say with Luka Doncic. And this is a take that

693
00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 1: I've had many times on this show, But there is

694
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:17,400
Speaker 1: a huge difference between Luca and James Harden's attack. Luca

695
00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:21,080
Speaker 1: has so much variety in his offensive attack and can

696
00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:23,319
Speaker 1: score from so many different places on the floor, with

697
00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:26,000
Speaker 1: so many different types of shots that he has more

698
00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:29,399
Speaker 1: resilience to different types of defenders and defensive coverages. James

699
00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:33,080
Speaker 1: Harden is a step back jumper, almost always going to

700
00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:36,200
Speaker 1: his right, or a hard dribble drive to the left,

701
00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:40,760
Speaker 1: or a crossover to the right, an occasional floater. Everything

702
00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:43,600
Speaker 1: else is at the rim. It is nowhere near the

703
00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:46,680
Speaker 1: level of variety that Luca has, and that is why

704
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:49,480
Speaker 1: James Harden has the reputation that he has. So even

705
00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:51,920
Speaker 1: though I was encouraged by that in the sense that

706
00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:53,879
Speaker 1: that's the right way for the Clippers to go about

707
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:56,880
Speaker 1: this regular season in order to rack up wins and

708
00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:59,759
Speaker 1: just pray that Kawhi's healthy come April. I thought it

709
00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:01,680
Speaker 1: was all also kind of an interesting little example of

710
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:04,320
Speaker 1: a lack of self awareness for James Harden in realizing

711
00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:06,440
Speaker 1: what makes him different from a guy like Luka Dawcic.

712
00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:11,960
Speaker 1: Last one the Spurs, Greg Popovich talking about there was

713
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:13,480
Speaker 1: kind of like a little bit of a difference between

714
00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:15,480
Speaker 1: some of the ways the players were talking about their

715
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:19,960
Speaker 1: expectations versus the coaching staff. So Popovich says, our expectations

716
00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:21,879
Speaker 1: are the same as they've been from the first year

717
00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:23,480
Speaker 1: that I coached. We want to be the best possible

718
00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:26,319
Speaker 1: team that we can be. That's individually, as far as

719
00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:29,560
Speaker 1: development goes, that's obviously been a big factor of the

720
00:35:29,640 --> 00:35:32,520
Speaker 1: last couple of years. Then team wide learning how to

721
00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:34,880
Speaker 1: play and what it takes to win. So Popovich is

722
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:36,719
Speaker 1: a little bit more reserved, a little bit more talk

723
00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:39,600
Speaker 1: about development, a little bit talk about this being a process.

724
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:42,799
Speaker 1: Devin Vessel said, playoffs, that's it, That's all I see,

725
00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:45,000
Speaker 1: and Chris Paul said, I'm going to be away from

726
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:46,759
Speaker 1: my family, then I want it to be meaningful. I

727
00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:49,799
Speaker 1: want to play and compete. This was the best opportunity

728
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:51,279
Speaker 1: to do that, and I feel like this would be

729
00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:53,960
Speaker 1: the best fit. So I don't read too much into

730
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,839
Speaker 1: popovich comments because I think he's just being realistic. And

731
00:35:57,040 --> 00:35:59,840
Speaker 1: I obviously think that Greg Popovic's approach is going to

732
00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:01,960
Speaker 1: be a try to win every single game. As far

733
00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:04,560
Speaker 1: as the overall idea about like the Spurs and going

734
00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:08,279
Speaker 1: for it at this phase, I never think there's a

735
00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:11,719
Speaker 1: bad reason to try to win every game, Like, can

736
00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:16,600
Speaker 1: you potentially stunt development to some degree when you don't

737
00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:18,880
Speaker 1: give guys opportunities even though it might not be the

738
00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:22,200
Speaker 1: best thing for the team. Yeah, there's some diminishing returns

739
00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:25,319
Speaker 1: that you can get there. However, the counter is you

740
00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:27,839
Speaker 1: have to you have to account for the fact that

741
00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:33,799
Speaker 1: like actually playing winning basketball, actually teaching young players winning concepts,

742
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:37,000
Speaker 1: and everything built around the idea of like a hatred

743
00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:42,400
Speaker 1: of losing and losing attitudes and losing behaviors being unacceptable

744
00:36:43,080 --> 00:36:45,520
Speaker 1: to me is a rock solid foundation to build an

745
00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:49,600
Speaker 1: organization on, and so like, even if the Spurs internally

746
00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:53,200
Speaker 1: don't think that they have championship potential, approaching it as

747
00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:55,040
Speaker 1: though that you're going to try to make a playoff

748
00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,399
Speaker 1: run is the right way to go because it's about

749
00:36:57,480 --> 00:36:59,880
Speaker 1: character building, and when you're in this kind of like

750
00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:02,960
Speaker 1: fledgling state of a franchise, as you're getting ready to

751
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:05,920
Speaker 1: move into an era of contention with Victor wiman Yama,

752
00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:09,280
Speaker 1: it's very important. It's very important for you to build

753
00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:27,239
Speaker 1: that character in this particular phase. All right, Let's get

754
00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:31,279
Speaker 1: into our season preview from Minnesota Timberwolves. So they lost

755
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:35,080
Speaker 1: Kyle Anderson, Jordan McLaughlin, Monty Morris, and Karl Anthony Towns.

756
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:37,800
Speaker 1: They added Rob Dillingham, who's a scoring guard that the

757
00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:41,560
Speaker 1: guy with the eighth overall pick, Joe Ingles, Dante DiVincenzo,

758
00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:45,000
Speaker 1: and Julius Randall as the returns in the Karl Anthony

759
00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:47,000
Speaker 1: Towns trade. I also found out that Key Debates Job

760
00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:49,799
Speaker 1: is coming over as well, a guy that I'm not

761
00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:52,719
Speaker 1: sure will play that much, but he does play at

762
00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:55,279
Speaker 1: the forward position, which is probably the area that they're

763
00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:58,560
Speaker 1: least deep, so there's some value there, but I'm not

764
00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:00,759
Speaker 1: sure how much of an NBA rotation player he is.

765
00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:03,080
Speaker 1: Let's take a look at the Cat trade real quick. So,

766
00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:05,080
Speaker 1: as I talked about a little bit on the Monday Show,

767
00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:07,880
Speaker 1: I understand why they did it. Julius Randall has a

768
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:10,680
Speaker 1: player option after this year for thirty one million dollars

769
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,399
Speaker 1: that he will most likely decline and try to work

770
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:16,719
Speaker 1: out some sort of long term deal a new deal. Right.

771
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:21,440
Speaker 1: Carl Anthony Towns has a sixty one million dollar player

772
00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:25,840
Speaker 1: option in twenty twenty seven that he will almost certainly

773
00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:30,320
Speaker 1: pick up. So Kat's contract is three additional years longer

774
00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:34,160
Speaker 1: and almost twice as expensive. That is just really difficult

775
00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:38,840
Speaker 1: to deal with financially, right. Dante DiVincenzo at twelve million

776
00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:41,879
Speaker 1: a year is just a more manageable salary as well

777
00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:46,160
Speaker 1: to work with, So there's substantially more financial flexibility in

778
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:49,360
Speaker 1: the next few years after this deal. Let's look at

779
00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:53,279
Speaker 1: the payroll real quick, even without Carl Anthony Towns. If

780
00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:56,480
Speaker 1: Gobert picks up his player option, that's forty seven million

781
00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:59,960
Speaker 1: dollars on the book books next year. If he doesn't

782
00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:03,400
Speaker 1: pick up the player option and you resign him. Judging

783
00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:05,720
Speaker 1: by what Jared Allen got this summer and what Isaiah

784
00:39:05,719 --> 00:39:08,239
Speaker 1: Hartenstein got the summer, Isaiah Hartenstein got almost thirty million.

785
00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:12,040
Speaker 1: Jared Allen got more than thirty million. Rudy Gobert even

786
00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:14,640
Speaker 1: I personally would rather have Jared Allen as my center

787
00:39:14,680 --> 00:39:17,759
Speaker 1: than Rudy Gobert, but because he's just more functional as

788
00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:22,200
Speaker 1: an offensive piece. But like Rudy Gobert in terms of reputation,

789
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:24,719
Speaker 1: is considered by many to be a better player than

790
00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:27,200
Speaker 1: both of those guys. So you're looking at like thirty

791
00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:30,640
Speaker 1: five million to forty million a year in some sort

792
00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:34,000
Speaker 1: of four year deal for Rudy Gobert after this season,

793
00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:37,240
Speaker 1: So like that's expensive. Anthony Edwards makes forty six million

794
00:39:37,239 --> 00:39:40,160
Speaker 1: dollars next year. Jaden McDaniels makes twenty five million dollars

795
00:39:40,239 --> 00:39:42,439
Speaker 1: next year. Mike Conley is on the books for ten

796
00:39:42,440 --> 00:39:44,799
Speaker 1: million dollars next year. Nas Reed is doing a new deal.

797
00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:48,840
Speaker 1: So it was a sacrifice. You sacrifice to run a

798
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:52,480
Speaker 1: chance to run it back with a Western Conference finals

799
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:55,480
Speaker 1: team and a young superstar that will improve year over

800
00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:59,360
Speaker 1: year for long term flexibility. I personally don't like the

801
00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:01,960
Speaker 1: Julius rand. We'll go into more detail about that later,

802
00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:06,759
Speaker 1: but most star trades don't bring back a star, so

803
00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:10,960
Speaker 1: to get real long term flexibility comparatively to your other situation,

804
00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:14,879
Speaker 1: also have the potential upside. Again, I don't like the fit,

805
00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:17,880
Speaker 1: but there's potential upside because he's a star of Julius

806
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:21,680
Speaker 1: Randall and then depth with Dante DiVincenzo. If there was

807
00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:25,719
Speaker 1: some sort of directive from ownership to shed money, get

808
00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:29,640
Speaker 1: out of the second apron, build long term flexibility. If

809
00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:32,440
Speaker 1: that was a directive from ownership, this is about as

810
00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:35,399
Speaker 1: good as you can do because you've got a star back,

811
00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:38,799
Speaker 1: you got a depth piece back, and you built in

812
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:41,719
Speaker 1: that flexibility. So even if we don't necessarily like the

813
00:40:41,719 --> 00:40:45,080
Speaker 1: fit of the star, if you were in the same

814
00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:47,080
Speaker 1: position where you were asked to trade a star for

815
00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:51,359
Speaker 1: financial flexibility, it's difficult to do much better than Tim

816
00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:54,440
Speaker 1: Connolly did. Right. So now from that perspective, let's look

817
00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:59,560
Speaker 1: at the basketball. So Julius Randall, the upside is what

818
00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:02,319
Speaker 1: he can do on the ball. And I told you guys,

819
00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:04,520
Speaker 1: I promised i'd get into more detail in the season previous.

820
00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:06,080
Speaker 1: So let's talk a little bit about some of these

821
00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:09,160
Speaker 1: specifics with Julius Randall on the ball. The last time

822
00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:11,280
Speaker 1: Julius Randall was healthy for a whole season was twenty

823
00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:14,399
Speaker 1: twenty three. Played seventy seven games. He averaged twenty five points,

824
00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:17,200
Speaker 1: ten rebounds, and four assists on fifty eight percent for shooting,

825
00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:19,480
Speaker 1: which is obviously very good. He made the All Star

826
00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:21,960
Speaker 1: team and he was third team All NBA. He was

827
00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:26,080
Speaker 1: also an efficient, high volume shot creator over at point

828
00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:28,520
Speaker 1: per possession on pick and rolls, ISOs and post ups

829
00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:31,600
Speaker 1: including passes. To give you an example of the difference

830
00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:35,440
Speaker 1: in volume and efficiency, Karl Anthony Towns ran five hundred

831
00:41:35,480 --> 00:41:37,440
Speaker 1: and twenty four pick and rolls, ISOs and post ups

832
00:41:37,480 --> 00:41:41,280
Speaker 1: last year for five hundred and thirteen points including passes.

833
00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:43,920
Speaker 1: That's just zero point nine to eight points per possession.

834
00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:48,720
Speaker 1: Julius Randall in that twenty twenty three season, ran nine

835
00:41:48,840 --> 00:41:51,239
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety six pick and rolls, ISOs and post

836
00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:55,120
Speaker 1: ups including passes, got one thousand and thirty eight points,

837
00:41:55,120 --> 00:41:58,279
Speaker 1: which is one point zero four points per possession. So

838
00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:02,440
Speaker 1: Julius in his last time healthy season basically did twice

839
00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:05,919
Speaker 1: the volume of shot creation that Kat did last year

840
00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:10,200
Speaker 1: and was considerably more efficient. So like Julius is just

841
00:42:10,239 --> 00:42:13,600
Speaker 1: a much better on ball shot creator than Karl Anthony

842
00:42:13,640 --> 00:42:17,160
Speaker 1: Towns is. He's a deadly face up player. On like

843
00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:19,680
Speaker 1: face up jabstep jump shots, he got over a point

844
00:42:19,719 --> 00:42:22,600
Speaker 1: per possession. He shot sixty four percent at the rim

845
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:26,120
Speaker 1: he shot fifty six percent on floaters and hooks. He's

846
00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:28,440
Speaker 1: got like a really efficient little left shoulder fade when

847
00:42:28,440 --> 00:42:30,279
Speaker 1: he's posting up on that left block and he kind

848
00:42:30,280 --> 00:42:32,840
Speaker 1: of gets into the middle of the floor, And that

849
00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:37,080
Speaker 1: specific type of on ball shot creation beyond Ant is

850
00:42:37,080 --> 00:42:39,800
Speaker 1: something that Minnesota didn't have last year, and it's a

851
00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:41,640
Speaker 1: big part of why they struggled offensively. If you look

852
00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:44,000
Speaker 1: at the numbers, when Ant was on the floor, the

853
00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:47,239
Speaker 1: Timberwolves had a one to eighteen offensive rating. That's very good.

854
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:49,239
Speaker 1: It's not elite, it's not like the best teams in

855
00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:52,520
Speaker 1: the league, but it's very good. When Ant was off

856
00:42:52,560 --> 00:42:54,759
Speaker 1: the floor, they had a one to eleven point four

857
00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:59,440
Speaker 1: offensive rating that's very bad. So improved secondary shot creator.

858
00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:04,000
Speaker 1: An improved secondary shot creator like Julius Randall, will one

859
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:05,799
Speaker 1: give you a better chance of scoring when Ant's off

860
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:08,480
Speaker 1: the floor, and will two, when Ant is off the ball,

861
00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:11,880
Speaker 1: give you a better opportunity to create quality shots. So

862
00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:15,160
Speaker 1: I think Julius two and two man game like. He's

863
00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:16,520
Speaker 1: not going to be the pick and pop player that

864
00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:19,200
Speaker 1: Cat was, But when they face any sort of switching,

865
00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:22,480
Speaker 1: Julius is a better matchup attacker in terms of using

866
00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:25,600
Speaker 1: his size to bullie smaller defenders. I like that fit

867
00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:28,120
Speaker 1: in terms of Julius as an on ball creator. The

868
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:31,239
Speaker 1: downside of this particular fit is when Ant has the ball.

869
00:43:31,719 --> 00:43:34,760
Speaker 1: Last year, even with Kat in the lineup, the Wolves

870
00:43:34,760 --> 00:43:37,760
Speaker 1: struggled to space the floor for Ant. Jada McDaniel's converted

871
00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:40,320
Speaker 1: spot up possessions at just zero point ninety nine points

872
00:43:40,320 --> 00:43:44,120
Speaker 1: per possession. Teams were comfortable helping off of Jaden and

873
00:43:44,200 --> 00:43:46,880
Speaker 1: just throwing a late close out at him. Rudy Gobert,

874
00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:48,640
Speaker 1: as I've said so many times on the show, everyone

875
00:43:48,640 --> 00:43:50,359
Speaker 1: talks about him on the defensive end of the floor

876
00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:53,880
Speaker 1: and low lights of him getting scored on in isolation.

877
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:56,080
Speaker 1: That's not the issue with Rudy. I still think he's

878
00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:58,920
Speaker 1: an awesome defensive player. The issue with Rudy is he

879
00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:01,680
Speaker 1: basically has to be completely open to finish around the

880
00:44:01,680 --> 00:44:06,040
Speaker 1: basket anything that's in traffic. He's so bad at catching

881
00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:10,000
Speaker 1: and finishing surrounded by bodies in the middle of the floor.

882
00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:14,040
Speaker 1: That's the real reason Rudy deserves criticism. That's the real

883
00:44:14,120 --> 00:44:18,000
Speaker 1: reason that France benched him with the Olympics. That's the

884
00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:21,120
Speaker 1: real reason why at stretches it seems like, oh man like,

885
00:44:21,400 --> 00:44:24,319
Speaker 1: this doesn't work offensively with Rudy on the floor. It

886
00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:27,720
Speaker 1: comes down to him being able to catch and finish

887
00:44:27,800 --> 00:44:31,680
Speaker 1: in traffic, and so with Jaden Kat and Rudy it

888
00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:36,080
Speaker 1: already was kind of janky. Now you're subbing in cat,

889
00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:39,239
Speaker 1: subbing out cat for Julius Randall, and he's just not

890
00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:41,960
Speaker 1: a good off ball player on the offensive end of

891
00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:44,320
Speaker 1: the floor. His spot of efficiency has been way below

892
00:44:44,360 --> 00:44:47,440
Speaker 1: average basically every season of his career. He did peak

893
00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:49,839
Speaker 1: in the twenty twenty three season at one point zero

894
00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:53,000
Speaker 1: seven points per possession, which is slightly above average, but

895
00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:56,360
Speaker 1: he dipped right back down to the thirty third percentile

896
00:44:56,440 --> 00:44:58,840
Speaker 1: last year to zero point nine to three points per possession,

897
00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:02,000
Speaker 1: and in all of the previous seasons he was well

898
00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:04,520
Speaker 1: below a point per possession. So he's not a good

899
00:45:05,000 --> 00:45:08,680
Speaker 1: point like spot up guy. He's basically a one point

900
00:45:08,680 --> 00:45:11,360
Speaker 1: per possession catch and shoot guy. He shoots about thirty

901
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:14,640
Speaker 1: eight percent when he's unguarded on jump shots, but he

902
00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:17,920
Speaker 1: shoots poorly when he's guarded. He scores on a cut

903
00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:20,839
Speaker 1: maybe once every two games. He's in the twenty fifth

904
00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:24,400
Speaker 1: percentile for frequency, so he's never been a high volume cutter.

905
00:45:25,160 --> 00:45:28,000
Speaker 1: He did some pick and popping with Brunson. He had

906
00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:30,640
Speaker 1: a decent pick and pop season in twenty twenty three,

907
00:45:31,400 --> 00:45:35,120
Speaker 1: but it wasn't as effective last year. So, like, there's

908
00:45:35,160 --> 00:45:37,680
Speaker 1: some issues there with how you can make use of

909
00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:39,759
Speaker 1: Julius Randall off the ball. It's not going to be

910
00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:43,760
Speaker 1: easy for Anthony Edwards. His development is a pull up shooter,

911
00:45:43,760 --> 00:45:46,040
Speaker 1: which really came to the surface in the postseason last year.

912
00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:49,279
Speaker 1: That's going to be huge for this team's potential and

913
00:45:49,320 --> 00:45:53,520
Speaker 1: hopefully that translates forward into this season. But again, like

914
00:45:53,560 --> 00:45:58,480
Speaker 1: that fits specifically, having Jaden, Julius, and Rudy all on

915
00:45:58,520 --> 00:46:00,759
Speaker 1: the floor at the same time, that could be an

916
00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:03,400
Speaker 1: absolute disaster for spacing, and so I'm a little bit

917
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:06,520
Speaker 1: concerned about that. Health is also an issue for Julius.

918
00:46:06,880 --> 00:46:08,400
Speaker 1: He's a rhythm player, so when he gets out of

919
00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:09,920
Speaker 1: the lineup for a while, it takes some time to

920
00:46:09,920 --> 00:46:12,359
Speaker 1: get back to form. In addition to missing a bunch

921
00:46:12,400 --> 00:46:14,000
Speaker 1: of time this year, if you go back to the

922
00:46:14,040 --> 00:46:17,160
Speaker 1: previous year, he missed some time right before the playoffs,

923
00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:18,680
Speaker 1: and then when he came back, he just didn't look

924
00:46:18,719 --> 00:46:21,239
Speaker 1: like Julius Randall. He looked really bad. But then At

925
00:46:21,239 --> 00:46:23,719
Speaker 1: the same time, I don't really view that as a

926
00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:26,000
Speaker 1: factor in this trade because Karl Anthony Towns has a

927
00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:28,480
Speaker 1: lot of the same health question marks that Julius Randall did.

928
00:46:29,520 --> 00:46:33,640
Speaker 1: Dante DiVincenzo I think he's just a rock solid starting

929
00:46:33,760 --> 00:46:36,120
Speaker 1: NBA guard and he may not even start on this

930
00:46:36,160 --> 00:46:38,960
Speaker 1: particular team. He's a very good athlete at the guard position.

931
00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:41,600
Speaker 1: He's six ' four, he's strong, he runs and jumps well.

932
00:46:41,960 --> 00:46:45,240
Speaker 1: He's very good on ball defender. He's got a great motor.

933
00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:48,920
Speaker 1: He always plays hard. He gets good physical ball pressure

934
00:46:48,960 --> 00:46:51,080
Speaker 1: on the ball handler, and then he turned into one

935
00:46:51,120 --> 00:46:52,680
Speaker 1: of the best shooters in the league. He shot over

936
00:46:52,760 --> 00:46:55,520
Speaker 1: forty nine to three point attempts per game last year.

937
00:46:55,719 --> 00:46:57,640
Speaker 1: He was one of only three players in the entire

938
00:46:57,719 --> 00:47:00,560
Speaker 1: NBA to attempt at least eight threes per game and

939
00:47:00,560 --> 00:47:03,520
Speaker 1: to hit at least forty percent of them, him Steph

940
00:47:03,600 --> 00:47:06,799
Speaker 1: Curry and CJ. McCollum. He converted spot up possessions at

941
00:47:06,840 --> 00:47:09,520
Speaker 1: one point two to three points per possession. Thirty seven

942
00:47:09,560 --> 00:47:12,160
Speaker 1: players in the NBA logged at least thirty three hundred

943
00:47:12,200 --> 00:47:15,319
Speaker 1: spot up possessions. Dante ranked fourth on that list. He's

944
00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:19,040
Speaker 1: just a very, very good offensive off ball guard. He's

945
00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:22,440
Speaker 1: an absolute gamer, plays both ends of the floor, plays

946
00:47:22,520 --> 00:47:26,000
Speaker 1: hard leverages, athletic gifts. I think Wolves fans are going

947
00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:27,400
Speaker 1: to love him. I think he's a better player than

948
00:47:27,440 --> 00:47:29,560
Speaker 1: Nikhil Alexander Walker, for instance. Like I think that's a

949
00:47:29,640 --> 00:47:33,600
Speaker 1: legitimate upgrade. So in summary, looking at the trade, very

950
00:47:33,680 --> 00:47:37,120
Speaker 1: rarely can you trade a star and get a star

951
00:47:37,239 --> 00:47:42,399
Speaker 1: back while also getting a legit depth piece and get

952
00:47:42,440 --> 00:47:45,840
Speaker 1: the financial flexibility, Like if you were under this directive,

953
00:47:45,840 --> 00:47:48,440
Speaker 1: it's about as good as you can do. My concerns

954
00:47:48,440 --> 00:47:51,440
Speaker 1: about this trade mostly center around fit. Again, kat is

955
00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:55,360
Speaker 1: a much better offensive fit with Anthony Edwards off the ball,

956
00:47:55,760 --> 00:47:58,040
Speaker 1: but there is upside to the Randall fit with his

957
00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:02,840
Speaker 1: on ball creation. Right, add that starting two way caliber

958
00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:06,640
Speaker 1: guard in starting caliber two a guard in Dante DiVincenzo. Right,

959
00:48:06,680 --> 00:48:10,160
Speaker 1: So like it's about as I would have preferred if

960
00:48:10,160 --> 00:48:13,479
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves ran it back, because you got a really

961
00:48:13,480 --> 00:48:17,080
Speaker 1: bad matchup in the conference finals. Anthony Edwards is ascending,

962
00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:19,680
Speaker 1: You've got this beautiful front court to fight against the

963
00:48:20,680 --> 00:48:23,480
Speaker 1: against the Nicole Jokic problem. I would have preferred if

964
00:48:23,480 --> 00:48:25,479
Speaker 1: they run it back, And I'm sure some Wolves fans

965
00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:28,080
Speaker 1: feel the same, but I understand why they did it,

966
00:48:28,760 --> 00:48:30,799
Speaker 1: and they did about as good a job of doing

967
00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:32,800
Speaker 1: it as you could do under that type of directive.

968
00:48:33,640 --> 00:48:35,480
Speaker 1: Let's talk about ants development, because this is a huge

969
00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:38,040
Speaker 1: piece of the Wolves this year. The postseason leap last

970
00:48:38,120 --> 00:48:40,200
Speaker 1: year was real. He entered into that like bona fide

971
00:48:40,239 --> 00:48:43,440
Speaker 1: top tier superstar territory. In the playoff run, he averaged

972
00:48:43,480 --> 00:48:46,840
Speaker 1: twenty eight seven and seven on sixty percent Troy shooting,

973
00:48:46,840 --> 00:48:49,640
Speaker 1: which is insane. Took his team in the Western Conference finals.

974
00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:54,080
Speaker 1: Really special stuff right. What facilitated that rise his combination

975
00:48:54,160 --> 00:48:56,640
Speaker 1: of jump shooting and playmaking. He took seven threes of

976
00:48:56,680 --> 00:48:59,480
Speaker 1: games a game in the playoffs and made forty percent

977
00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:01,759
Speaker 1: of them. He shot forty three percent on pull up

978
00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:04,000
Speaker 1: jump shots, getting one point zero eight points per shot,

979
00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:06,520
Speaker 1: which is great. Did a really nice job though, in

980
00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:11,000
Speaker 1: the playmaking front, driving and kicking to generate advantage opportunities

981
00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:12,920
Speaker 1: for a season, averaging six and a half assists per

982
00:49:12,960 --> 00:49:15,319
Speaker 1: game in a playoff run that's three rounds long. That's

983
00:49:15,320 --> 00:49:19,200
Speaker 1: a legitimate playmaking leap from Anthony Edwards. Now, the question

984
00:49:19,320 --> 00:49:22,080
Speaker 1: is how much of that was real? I believe most

985
00:49:22,080 --> 00:49:24,759
Speaker 1: of it was, But the reality is they're going to

986
00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:28,680
Speaker 1: need it to be real. Teams are going to consistently

987
00:49:28,719 --> 00:49:31,319
Speaker 1: pack the paint on him and force him to hit

988
00:49:31,400 --> 00:49:33,480
Speaker 1: shots over the top of the defense. That's going to

989
00:49:33,520 --> 00:49:36,840
Speaker 1: be an important counter for him. So that jump shot development,

990
00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:39,960
Speaker 1: that being real goes a long way to confronting some

991
00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:42,799
Speaker 1: of the spacing issues. Because this is a clunky fit.

992
00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:45,719
Speaker 1: It's going to be a challenging season for Ant on

993
00:49:45,719 --> 00:49:47,719
Speaker 1: the offensive end of the floor. How much is he

994
00:49:47,840 --> 00:49:50,200
Speaker 1: up to that challenge because if he can overcome a

995
00:49:50,200 --> 00:49:52,560
Speaker 1: lot of that, that's where you can get the upside

996
00:49:52,560 --> 00:49:54,399
Speaker 1: of Julius Randall when he's on the ball. And I'm

997
00:49:54,440 --> 00:49:56,319
Speaker 1: not worried about Ant off the ball at all. He's

998
00:49:56,360 --> 00:49:58,240
Speaker 1: just turned into too good of a shooter. At this point.

999
00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:01,799
Speaker 1: I have one last little kind of like a point

1000
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:03,200
Speaker 1: that I want to hit before we get into more

1001
00:50:03,239 --> 00:50:06,200
Speaker 1: of a big picture summary the backup forward spot. The

1002
00:50:06,200 --> 00:50:09,239
Speaker 1: Wolves bench got better with the addition of Dante DiVincenzo.

1003
00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:11,680
Speaker 1: You're actually really deep at bench guard, right, Like given

1004
00:50:11,719 --> 00:50:15,120
Speaker 1: Nakil Alexander Walker, you have Dante DiVincenzo, Rob Dillingham, he's

1005
00:50:15,200 --> 00:50:17,120
Speaker 1: top ten picks. You gotta find minutes for him there,

1006
00:50:17,200 --> 00:50:19,239
Speaker 1: right you actually have five guards in the rotation. That's

1007
00:50:19,239 --> 00:50:21,759
Speaker 1: something that I think will be interesting to watch the

1008
00:50:21,800 --> 00:50:24,279
Speaker 1: rest of the season. You have an excellent backup center

1009
00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:25,759
Speaker 1: nas Reads, about as good as you can do in

1010
00:50:25,760 --> 00:50:28,840
Speaker 1: the backup center's position in the NBA. But with the

1011
00:50:28,880 --> 00:50:32,719
Speaker 1: loss of Kyle Anderson, you're now looking at Joe Ingles,

1012
00:50:33,400 --> 00:50:37,400
Speaker 1: Luca Garza, and Keida Bates job basically as your backup forwards,

1013
00:50:38,280 --> 00:50:42,120
Speaker 1: and none of those are great options. Right. So, like,

1014
00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:45,200
Speaker 1: I think the initial setup is fine. I think having

1015
00:50:45,280 --> 00:50:49,879
Speaker 1: Jada McDaniels, Julius Randall, Rudy Gobert, nas Red, I think

1016
00:50:49,880 --> 00:50:52,400
Speaker 1: you're you got enough there to fill most of the

1017
00:50:52,440 --> 00:50:55,960
Speaker 1: front court minutes. It's more of a depth issue. If

1018
00:50:56,000 --> 00:50:58,759
Speaker 1: one of those four guys goes down with injury, that's

1019
00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:01,520
Speaker 1: where you could be looking at twenty plus minutes a

1020
00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:05,279
Speaker 1: night for guys like Joe Ingles, Luca Gar's key debates job.

1021
00:51:05,320 --> 00:51:07,400
Speaker 1: That's where it could get a little bit tricky. Right, So,

1022
00:51:07,440 --> 00:51:10,680
Speaker 1: there's two ways to confront that. One is a balancing trade, Like,

1023
00:51:10,880 --> 00:51:13,640
Speaker 1: you have five guards that are all really good rotation players.

1024
00:51:13,880 --> 00:51:15,640
Speaker 1: If you could turn one of them, let's say the

1025
00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:18,440
Speaker 1: worst one, like Nikhail Alexander Walker, if you could turn

1026
00:51:18,520 --> 00:51:21,520
Speaker 1: him into a full word, that balances things a little

1027
00:51:21,520 --> 00:51:24,040
Speaker 1: bit right. Another direction they could go is look to

1028
00:51:24,040 --> 00:51:27,279
Speaker 1: build out some three guard looks. Dante plays bigger than

1029
00:51:27,280 --> 00:51:29,200
Speaker 1: he is. He rebounds really well for a guard, and

1030
00:51:29,239 --> 00:51:32,080
Speaker 1: he's strong and is a good center of gravity, so

1031
00:51:32,080 --> 00:51:34,160
Speaker 1: he could slide his feet well. So like, I think

1032
00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:36,200
Speaker 1: you could like kind of account for the fact that

1033
00:51:36,239 --> 00:51:37,920
Speaker 1: he plays a little bigger than he is. And then

1034
00:51:37,920 --> 00:51:40,240
Speaker 1: Anthony Edwards is one of the most physically imposing guards

1035
00:51:40,239 --> 00:51:43,160
Speaker 1: in the league. So like, I actually think in Anthony Edwards,

1036
00:51:43,200 --> 00:51:47,440
Speaker 1: Mike Conley, Dante DiVincenzo lineup with Gobert and one of

1037
00:51:47,520 --> 00:51:51,640
Speaker 1: Julius Randall or JD. McDaniels could work. So like keep

1038
00:51:51,680 --> 00:51:53,960
Speaker 1: an eye on the backward of the backup forward spot.

1039
00:51:54,000 --> 00:51:56,320
Speaker 1: But one of the ways they could confront that outside

1040
00:51:56,320 --> 00:51:57,960
Speaker 1: of a trade is just trying to build out some

1041
00:51:58,000 --> 00:52:02,120
Speaker 1: more three guard looks. All right, segment, why don't you

1042
00:52:02,280 --> 00:52:06,360
Speaker 1: have Minnesota with the top tier contenders. I have Minnesota

1043
00:52:06,400 --> 00:52:08,680
Speaker 1: in the if things go right tier. I'm a huge

1044
00:52:08,719 --> 00:52:11,000
Speaker 1: ant fan. I'm rooting for this team to succeed. So

1045
00:52:11,040 --> 00:52:13,200
Speaker 1: this is not about any sort of like personal Vendetta.

1046
00:52:13,520 --> 00:52:15,799
Speaker 1: I actually really like Anthony Edwards. I think he might

1047
00:52:15,800 --> 00:52:18,400
Speaker 1: be my favorite player of this next era. Right, but

1048
00:52:18,719 --> 00:52:21,680
Speaker 1: they have some gaping holes and specific matchup weaknesses that

1049
00:52:21,719 --> 00:52:24,680
Speaker 1: could get them beat, specifically teams that do a really

1050
00:52:24,680 --> 00:52:26,560
Speaker 1: good job of protecting the rim. We saw this in

1051
00:52:26,600 --> 00:52:31,919
Speaker 1: the Dallas series. Right. In the Denver series, Anthony Edwards

1052
00:52:31,920 --> 00:52:34,920
Speaker 1: attempted seven point one restricted area shots per game and

1053
00:52:34,960 --> 00:52:38,359
Speaker 1: shot seventy four percent there. In the Dallas series, he

1054
00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:41,200
Speaker 1: attempted just five point eight restricted area shots per game

1055
00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:43,760
Speaker 1: and shot just fifty five percent there. So, going from

1056
00:52:44,440 --> 00:52:46,720
Speaker 1: a guy who is having a bad rim protection postseason

1057
00:52:46,800 --> 00:52:49,560
Speaker 1: run in Jokic to legit rim protection and Gafford and

1058
00:52:49,600 --> 00:52:53,640
Speaker 1: Lively completely changed Minnesota's ability to get into the basket,

1059
00:52:53,680 --> 00:52:56,920
Speaker 1: specifically with ants. Then it also extended into the regular season.

1060
00:52:57,480 --> 00:53:01,080
Speaker 1: The top eight opponent point in the paint team. So

1061
00:53:01,160 --> 00:53:04,719
Speaker 1: let's call that rim protection teams the top eight rim

1062
00:53:04,760 --> 00:53:08,120
Speaker 1: protection teams, not counting Minnesota in the league, where the

1063
00:53:08,200 --> 00:53:12,040
Speaker 1: Chicago Bulls, the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, the New Orleans Pelicans,

1064
00:53:12,040 --> 00:53:15,440
Speaker 1: the New York Knicks, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Orlando Magic,

1065
00:53:15,480 --> 00:53:19,680
Speaker 1: in the Boston Celtics. The Timberwolves went ten to ten

1066
00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:23,200
Speaker 1: against that group, and they went forty six and sixteen

1067
00:53:23,320 --> 00:53:27,120
Speaker 1: against everyone else. So that's like a pretty substantial sample

1068
00:53:27,200 --> 00:53:30,719
Speaker 1: size that demonstrates that the teams that can really pack

1069
00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:33,360
Speaker 1: the paint and protect the rim are going to bog

1070
00:53:33,440 --> 00:53:37,200
Speaker 1: down this Minnesota offense and cause them to be vulnerable

1071
00:53:37,680 --> 00:53:40,680
Speaker 1: in a real way. So like now we can kind

1072
00:53:40,680 --> 00:53:44,120
Speaker 1: of exacerbate that concept by swapping in Julius Randall for

1073
00:53:44,200 --> 00:53:47,640
Speaker 1: Karl Anthony Towns. So like that, that to me is

1074
00:53:47,719 --> 00:53:50,279
Speaker 1: like a legitimate matchup weakness that could get them into

1075
00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:54,239
Speaker 1: some trouble there are like they if they run into

1076
00:53:54,280 --> 00:53:57,880
Speaker 1: teams that can really protect the rim, they could end

1077
00:53:57,960 --> 00:53:59,920
Speaker 1: up getting beat in the playoffs. Teams that I look

1078
00:54:00,080 --> 00:54:02,560
Speaker 1: got there, Like if they faced Dallas again, I think

1079
00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:06,520
Speaker 1: they'd lose. If they face Oklahoma City, I think they'd lose.

1080
00:54:07,400 --> 00:54:09,120
Speaker 1: Even some of the lower teams in the West, like

1081
00:54:09,239 --> 00:54:11,600
Speaker 1: a team like the Lakers that has Anthony Davis on

1082
00:54:11,640 --> 00:54:14,040
Speaker 1: that front line. That's a team that could really pack

1083
00:54:14,080 --> 00:54:16,640
Speaker 1: the paint against Minnesota and cost some issues for their defense.

1084
00:54:16,960 --> 00:54:20,279
Speaker 1: The Lakers struggled to guard on the perimeter, but they

1085
00:54:20,280 --> 00:54:22,880
Speaker 1: have guys in Minnesota that don't necessarily need to be

1086
00:54:22,880 --> 00:54:25,759
Speaker 1: accounted for on the perimeter that they can stash bad

1087
00:54:25,800 --> 00:54:29,560
Speaker 1: defensive players on. So like, I think that's a significant weakness.

1088
00:54:29,560 --> 00:54:31,759
Speaker 1: The second big weakness that I want to talk about

1089
00:54:32,360 --> 00:54:35,680
Speaker 1: is trapping ant. This was something we saw towards the

1090
00:54:35,680 --> 00:54:38,080
Speaker 1: tail end of the Denver series and then a lot

1091
00:54:38,120 --> 00:54:42,440
Speaker 1: in the Dallas series. It's copycat league, right. Denver showed it,

1092
00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:46,840
Speaker 1: Dallas copied it and kind of perfected it with rim protection.

1093
00:54:47,520 --> 00:54:51,319
Speaker 1: Ant got blitzed in ball screens twenty two times in

1094
00:54:51,400 --> 00:54:55,759
Speaker 1: the playoffs. The Wolves scored just ten points on those possessions,

1095
00:54:56,360 --> 00:55:00,520
Speaker 1: and they shot just three for sixteen from the field.

1096
00:55:00,920 --> 00:55:04,239
Speaker 1: It is. It is a copycat league. Teams will all

1097
00:55:04,280 --> 00:55:06,719
Speaker 1: of the good coaching staffs in the league, when they're

1098
00:55:06,760 --> 00:55:09,759
Speaker 1: game planning for Minnesota will watch that footage and go, man,

1099
00:55:10,120 --> 00:55:12,160
Speaker 1: just put two on an There's nothing they can do,

1100
00:55:12,640 --> 00:55:14,920
Speaker 1: So what is your game plan for that. I'm a

1101
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:17,759
Speaker 1: huge believer in their defense. Yes, they struggled in the

1102
00:55:17,800 --> 00:55:20,560
Speaker 1: Luca matchup, but there's really only a small handful of

1103
00:55:20,560 --> 00:55:23,200
Speaker 1: guys in the league that can really make Luca uncomfortable.

1104
00:55:23,719 --> 00:55:26,000
Speaker 1: But there are a lot of ways that this offense

1105
00:55:26,040 --> 00:55:28,719
Speaker 1: can be really bogged down by packing the paint, by

1106
00:55:28,800 --> 00:55:31,600
Speaker 1: trapping Ant in his ball screens, and it could potentially

1107
00:55:31,600 --> 00:55:35,319
Speaker 1: be worse now that Cat is gone, and so like

1108
00:55:35,600 --> 00:55:37,560
Speaker 1: that's something that they got to have a game plan for.

1109
00:55:38,200 --> 00:55:41,560
Speaker 1: Whether that's aligning things so that you have a good

1110
00:55:41,560 --> 00:55:44,120
Speaker 1: playmaker as the first read for Ant when he gets

1111
00:55:44,120 --> 00:55:47,800
Speaker 1: into the trap, whether that's just a lot of internal

1112
00:55:47,840 --> 00:55:51,000
Speaker 1: improvement for guys like Jaden McDaniels, whether that's Julius Randall

1113
00:55:51,040 --> 00:55:53,520
Speaker 1: improving as a spot up player. They've got to find

1114
00:55:53,560 --> 00:55:57,080
Speaker 1: a way to convert those four on threes into easy shots.

1115
00:55:57,600 --> 00:55:59,960
Speaker 1: Because the book is out. With Minnesota pack the paint,

1116
00:56:00,239 --> 00:56:03,640
Speaker 1: trap Ant, you can bog down their offense. So in summary,

1117
00:56:03,960 --> 00:56:06,240
Speaker 1: I think this team is built to win regular season games.

1118
00:56:06,480 --> 00:56:09,600
Speaker 1: They've got young, energetic talent. I think they will likely

1119
00:56:09,680 --> 00:56:11,879
Speaker 1: end up in the three or the four seed this year,

1120
00:56:12,440 --> 00:56:14,439
Speaker 1: but I think they need to catch some matchup luck

1121
00:56:14,440 --> 00:56:17,360
Speaker 1: in order to win four playoff rounds. As I mentioned earlier,

1122
00:56:17,360 --> 00:56:18,960
Speaker 1: there are some teams in the Western Conference that I

1123
00:56:18,960 --> 00:56:21,320
Speaker 1: think would just beat them because of their ability to

1124
00:56:21,360 --> 00:56:23,919
Speaker 1: protect the rim. So that puts them in the mix

1125
00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:27,200
Speaker 1: with all of these teams below the top tier for me.

1126
00:56:27,360 --> 00:56:29,600
Speaker 1: I'm not worried about Ant. I think he's ready to

1127
00:56:29,640 --> 00:56:31,880
Speaker 1: do this. I just think the rest of the roster

1128
00:56:32,440 --> 00:56:35,080
Speaker 1: has some holes that are tough to account for. All right, guys,

1129
00:56:35,080 --> 00:56:36,480
Speaker 1: That is all I have for today is always is

1130
00:56:36,520 --> 00:56:38,919
Speaker 1: sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting the show. We'll see

1131
00:56:38,960 --> 00:56:41,520
Speaker 1: for Friday. We might have some preseason reaction depending on

1132
00:56:42,320 --> 00:56:44,719
Speaker 1: what happens in that Denver Boston game. If not, we

1133
00:56:44,760 --> 00:56:47,040
Speaker 1: will have another season preview as well as a mailbag.

1134
00:56:47,120 --> 00:56:52,520
Speaker 1: I will see you guys then the volume. What's up guys.

1135
00:56:52,560 --> 00:56:55,360
Speaker 1: As always, I appreciate you for listening to and supporting

1136
00:56:55,360 --> 00:56:57,960
Speaker 1: OOPS tonight. They would actually be really helpful for us

1137
00:56:58,000 --> 00:56:59,840
Speaker 1: if you guys would take a second and leave a

1138
00:57:00,120 --> 00:57:02,560
Speaker 1: rating and a review. As always, I appreciate you guys

1139
00:57:02,560 --> 00:57:04,200
Speaker 1: supporting us, but if you could take a minute to

1140
00:57:04,239 --> 00:57:06,080
Speaker 1: do that, I'd really appreciate it.