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Speaker 1: The volume. All right, Well, god to hoops tonight. Here

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Speaker 1: at the Volume Heavy Friday. Everybody. Hope all you guys

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Speaker 1: had a great first week. I'm very excited to get

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Speaker 1: into our mail bag today. I got caught up on

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Speaker 1: three more games from the Wednesday Night Slate. I swear

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Speaker 1: my eyes are gonna be squares soon. I watched ten

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Speaker 1: of the first sixteen NBA regular season games. It's been

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Speaker 1: an absolute grind this week. We had three fun live

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Speaker 1: shows over the last few nights. But I'm very excited

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Speaker 1: to kind of bounce around and get to the stuff

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Speaker 1: that we haven't talked about yet. We do have a

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Speaker 1: handful of questions related to some of our regular teams

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Speaker 1: that we cover often on the show. But we're gonna

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Speaker 1: be breaking down three games from Wednesday Night Slate. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna hit Raptors, Hawks, We're gonna hit Clippers, Jazz, We're

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Speaker 1: gonna hit six Ers, Celtics. I've got questions from some

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Speaker 1: other teams around the league, some big picture basketball kind

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Speaker 1: of philosophy questions, all sorts of interesting stuff from you

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Speaker 1: guys in today's mail bag. You guys are the joke

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Speaker 1: before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops and I

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

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Speaker 1: follow me on Twitter and underscore jcnlts. You guys don't

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Speaker 1: miss how announcements. Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever

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Speaker 1: you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also super

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Speaker 1: helpful if you leave a rating in a review on

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Speaker 1: that front. Jackson's doing great work on our social media

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Speaker 1: feeds Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. Make sure you guys follow

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Speaker 1: us there. Then, the last but not least, keep dropping

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Speaker 1: mail bag questions in the YouTube comments again in our

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Speaker 1: full episodes. Right, mail bag, colon, write your question. We're

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Speaker 1: going to get to them mostly on Fridays, but about

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Speaker 1: once a week throughout the remainder of the season. All right,

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Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball. So first question, shout out to

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Speaker 1: Harry weston the question that allowed us to get to

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Speaker 1: all of these games. Out of the other games on

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Speaker 1: opening night, who surprised you the most? I think Charlotte

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Speaker 1: and Toronto could have sneaky good seasons and VJ Edgecomb

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Speaker 1: looks like the future in Philly. Also, what happened in Utah,

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Speaker 1: I would argue Veja was the biggest surprise from that

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Speaker 1: Wednesday Night Slate. But I thought that this question was

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Speaker 1: a great opportunity for us to just quickly bounce through

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Speaker 1: a couple of game reactions. I caught up on Raptors, Hawks, Clippers, Jazz,

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Speaker 1: and six or Celtics this morning. I'm just gonna go

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Speaker 1: ahead and give you guys my takeaways on all three

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Speaker 1: of those games. So, first of all, I haven't had

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Speaker 1: the chance to watch Charlotte yet, although I caught them

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Speaker 1: in preseason. I thought they looked good in preseason. I'm

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Speaker 1: generally not as high on Charlotte as some of my

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Speaker 1: peers are, just because I think they're kind of generally

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Speaker 1: unserious and they have a very injury prone set of

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Speaker 1: core players. But we will get to the Charlotte Hornets

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Speaker 1: at some point in time down the line. Starting with

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Speaker 1: Raptors Hawks, I thought Toronto's size, length, and athleticism in

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Speaker 1: their starting lineup popped off the screen right away. When

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Speaker 1: you have Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes, who are, in

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Speaker 1: addition to being two really big forwards, Barnes brings a

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Speaker 1: strength and power element, Ingram brings a length element. Ingram's

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Speaker 1: more of an over the top shooter. Barnes is more

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Speaker 1: of a rim pressuring type of player, but both of

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Speaker 1: them are pretty high level playmakers for the forward position.

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Speaker 1: Yaka Pertl obviously a big, strong center, kind of an

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Speaker 1: underrated player in my opinion, and then RJ. Barrett obviously

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Speaker 1: one of the more athletic kind of two three swingmen

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Speaker 1: out there at two through five. They're just very physically imposing,

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Speaker 1: and they came out with super impressive defensive intensity right

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Speaker 1: from the jump, and they it just was a carryover

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Speaker 1: from what we saw from the tail end of last season.

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Speaker 1: If you guys remember, they ran the floor insanely well

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Speaker 1: in transition, kind of flipping the script on what Atlanta

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Speaker 1: typically likes to do. Toronto had forty three transition points

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Speaker 1: in this game. They had an offensive rating over one

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Speaker 1: forty on their transition possessions. Just a combination of really

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Speaker 1: poor Atlanta transition defense, which we'll get to in a minute,

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Speaker 1: and just how athletically imposing they can be when they're

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Speaker 1: running the floor and brandon ingram right out. The gates

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Speaker 1: came out super aggressive, scoring off of off ball action

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Speaker 1: and on ball action, just curling around screens and getting

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Speaker 1: into the middle of the floor. His scoring polish was

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Speaker 1: immediately apparent. I think he going to make life a

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Speaker 1: lot easier for them on that end, especially when they

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Speaker 1: get into crunch time, which obviously they did not experience

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Speaker 1: in this particular game. I thought RJ. Barrett was fantastic.

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Speaker 1: He hit some much needed threes early in the game

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Speaker 1: to space the floor, did a great job pressure in

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Speaker 1: the rim. He obviously played really really good defense as well,

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Speaker 1: and the Raptors just went into Atlanta and smacked them.

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Speaker 1: They had seven guys in double figures. Grady Dick had

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Speaker 1: twenty off the bench. He hit a bunch of jumpers

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Speaker 1: from all sorts of ranges all over the floor. They

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Speaker 1: were just six for twenty five from three and yet

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Speaker 1: they logged a one twenty two offensive rating. And it

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Speaker 1: was a combination to two things. Obviously, the transition pushes.

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Speaker 1: When you have over forty transition points in a game,

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Speaker 1: that's a pretty unusual number to see there. That's a

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Speaker 1: big way to boost your offensive rating. And then the

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Speaker 1: second piece of it is when they got in the

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Speaker 1: half court, they had a lot of really impressive ball

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Speaker 1: in player movement. They got in and out of actions quickly.

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Speaker 1: They ran a lot of actions on every possession, and

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Speaker 1: one of the things that stood out to me is

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Speaker 1: they do have more playmaking talent than you would think,

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Speaker 1: like for all the limits in terms of shooting talent.

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Speaker 1: We've seen this before with teams like the Golden State Warriors.

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Speaker 1: Now they weaponize shooting in the form of Steph and

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Speaker 1: Buddy Heeled now and Klay Thompson. In the past they

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Speaker 1: weaponized shooting to create that initial advantage, but from there

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Speaker 1: they tend to have less shooting than most teams, but

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Speaker 1: they just break you down with really crisp decision making

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Speaker 1: and movement right and obviously for Toronto, they don't have

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Speaker 1: the thread of the shooting, so it'll be harder for

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Speaker 1: them to break down elite defenses. But one of the

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Speaker 1: things I thought they did really well was they just

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Speaker 1: passed and moved in and out of their actions well

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Speaker 1: and got a lot of really good looks at the

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Speaker 1: rim they had. I don't have the number directly in

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Speaker 1: front of me. They had a million points in the

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Speaker 1: paint in this game. That was a huge part of

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Speaker 1: how they controlled the offensive end of the floor. In

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Speaker 1: this game, they had assists on two thirds of their baskets. Again,

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Speaker 1: anything over sixty five percent and assist percentage to me,

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Speaker 1: is really strong. They started up over that to start

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Speaker 1: the season. Again, they can't shoot the ball, but they

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Speaker 1: have real strengths. They're big, they're athletic, they're great at defense,

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Speaker 1: they run the floor and transition well, and when they

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Speaker 1: get in the half court, they have really nice playmaking talent.

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Speaker 1: It's a good recipe for winning basketball games, even if

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Speaker 1: they're shooting will provide issues in certain matchups. Again, Atlanta

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Speaker 1: was pretty disappointing, which we'll get into. I wasn't all

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Speaker 1: bad for Atlanta. Jalen Johnson really impressed me with his

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Speaker 1: passing ability. He lacks that perimeter polish like the jumper

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Speaker 1: still isn't there. There's like some tight spaceball handling stuff

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Speaker 1: where he can still have some issues. But he pressures

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Speaker 1: the rim well, both in transition and in the half

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Speaker 1: court when he looks to drive. And then he's just

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Speaker 1: got really natural feel for seeing the floor and seeing

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Speaker 1: the openings that are generated when he pressures the rim.

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Speaker 1: And I was impressed by a lot of his playmaking,

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Speaker 1: especially in the first half of that game. He kept

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Speaker 1: them in the game despite Toronto out playing them basically

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Speaker 1: in every other matchup. To start, But I was pretty

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Speaker 1: disappointed in Atlanta for a group that has so many

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Speaker 1: great athletes and some guys with some good defensive reputations,

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Speaker 1: right with Dyson Daniels and Nakil Alexander Walker, I thought

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Speaker 1: they were just super sloppy guarding the act that Toronto

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Speaker 1: was running in the half court, Like they botched switches

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Speaker 1: constantly in this game, and you want to credit the

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Speaker 1: Raptors for their movement, for their passing, and again, like

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Speaker 1: you do that kind of stuff, it has the potential

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Speaker 1: to lead to defense making mistakes. But I thought Atlanta

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Speaker 1: looked like a team that has not been approaching the

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Speaker 1: defensive end with much focus through training camp. I was

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Speaker 1: definitely disappointed there. And then their transition defense was flat

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Speaker 1: out abysmal, which is super strange for such an athletic team.

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Speaker 1: They need to be a good transition defense. Nikhil Alexander

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Speaker 1: Walker seems to have taken his new role in Atlanta

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Speaker 1: as like a high volume ball handling role, which I

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Speaker 1: think is a misallocation of what he does well. I

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Speaker 1: think he's at his best when he's guarding the ball

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Speaker 1: and then playing with an advantage taking catch and shoot

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Speaker 1: threes and using more of his ball handling ability, driving

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Speaker 1: closeouts and playing when the defense is already compromised rather

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Speaker 1: than attacking out front. Now he's going to have to

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Speaker 1: do a certain amount of that because Atlanta's not as

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Speaker 1: heavy on ball handling as Minnesota was. But I did

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Speaker 1: think that his shot selection was a little questionable in

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Speaker 1: this game. Atlanta just got out played from the jump.

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Speaker 1: So not a good start from the Hawks. They need

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Speaker 1: to have a better showing a night two Clippers Jazz.

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Speaker 1: This is one of the strangest opening night performances that

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Speaker 1: I've ever seen. I have a ton of respect for

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Speaker 1: the Clippers organization. I think they have one of the

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Speaker 1: best coaches in the league. I think they have a

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Speaker 1: well run front office that has a good feel for

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Speaker 1: how to build a modern NBA team, and I think

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Speaker 1: this roster in particular is built for regular season success.

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Speaker 1: But holy shit, did they come out flat and in

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Speaker 1: the opening minutes. I primarily blame Kawhi, Leonard In Viza

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Speaker 1: Zubats for the initial run that Utah went on. Utah

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Speaker 1: was basically just running Lori Markinen and off of like

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Speaker 1: downscreens from Walker, Kessler and Kawhi and Zoo just defended

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Speaker 1: it super poorly. Kawhi was applying little to no pressure

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Speaker 1: physicality on market In in his lock and trail. He

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Speaker 1: was getting caught on screens and not getting out to

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Speaker 1: him when he was shooting. When market In would curl,

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Speaker 1: he was just kind of lazily jogging behind. And then

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Speaker 1: Zoo like was just essentially not helping Kawhi on either

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Speaker 1: side of the action. Wasn't showing up high when Marketing

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Speaker 1: would come off the screen, wasn't helping when Marketing would curl,

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Speaker 1: but then also leaving Walker Kessler open because Kesler ended

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Speaker 1: up hitting two threes early in the game, which shout

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Speaker 1: out to Walker Kessler. I know in the game plan,

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Speaker 1: you're kind of gonna let him take that, right, but like,

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Speaker 1: if you're not gonna help on the curls in on

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Speaker 1: the at the level stuff, then you've got it. You

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Speaker 1: can't also just leave him wide open. You're basically just

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Speaker 1: floating around out there. And so Kawhi and Zoo came

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Speaker 1: out super flat defending those actions early, and Marketing and

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Speaker 1: Kessler torched them. They take an early double digit lead,

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Speaker 1: and then once the bench group started to work their

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Speaker 1: way into the game, it turnovers became a massive problem

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Speaker 1: for the Clips, like use of Nurkic comes in and

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Speaker 1: just starts pressuring the high post entry on Zubats and

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Speaker 1: Brook Lopez and forces a couple of turnovers right away

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Speaker 1: that led into runouts, and the Clippers had like a

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Speaker 1: half dozen of these super bizarre unforced turnovers where like

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Speaker 1: you're just throwing the ball right to the other team

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Speaker 1: or just throwing it out of bounds because the guy

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Speaker 1: you're throwing it to is not paying attention. Just they

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Speaker 1: literally looked like they were asleep. And it was crazy

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Speaker 1: because the next thing you knew, it was the early

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Speaker 1: third quarter and Tyler's calling a time out because the

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Speaker 1: Clippers are down by thirty seven on the road in Utah.

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Speaker 1: Like it was just bizarre, and Tyler took the blame.

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Speaker 1: And I'm sure the Clippers will bounce back with a

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Speaker 1: win tonight, but it was pretty crazy. I'm not gonna lie.

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Speaker 1: They definitely did not look ready for the start of

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Speaker 1: the season. I do want to credit Utah like they

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Speaker 1: came out and played great basketball. They have a very

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Speaker 1: good front court with Kessler and market In. Those are

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Speaker 1: talented guys when they're healthy and on the floor, and

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Speaker 1: they you know, just a casual reminder that even with

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Speaker 1: bad teams in the NBA, there's a lot of talent

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Speaker 1: out there, and if you come out and you bring

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Speaker 1: a lack of daisical effort, I don't know that you

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Speaker 1: can get away with it anymore night to night in

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Speaker 1: the regular season. I mean I rooted for the Lakers

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Speaker 1: in a game that they lost to the Jazz last year,

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Speaker 1: Like this is a bottom feeder that puts some really

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Speaker 1: high level basketball players on the floor. I thought Keante

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Speaker 1: George was great all night. Bryce Senseibah came in and

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Speaker 1: torched them from three. Hit a couple big ones in

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Speaker 1: the late third quarter or late second quarter. Excuse me,

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Speaker 1: that helps kind of blow the game open. Really nice

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Speaker 1: debut for the Utah Jazz, high energy performance to kick

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Speaker 1: Six are Celtics. What a debut for VJ edgecomb thirty

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Speaker 1: four points and seven rebounds looked like the perfect compliment

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Speaker 1: to Tyrese Maxi. I've always loved the idea of like

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Speaker 1: hyper athletic guys alongside skill guards in the backcourt, so

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Speaker 1: like essentially the Polish finesse type of guard, even though

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Speaker 1: Tyrese I think brings insane speed to the table obviously,

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Speaker 1: but that's why he's able to go for forty right,

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Speaker 1: he has the skill piece, and then off of him,

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Speaker 1: I want an athlete that can rebound, defend, and can

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Speaker 1: score with an advantage. And the key kind of storyline

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Speaker 1: in the game defensively was that Boston was roaming off

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Speaker 1: of VJ edge comb all night and then in his

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Speaker 1: on ball reps they were going under his picks. Boston

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Speaker 1: essentially dared VJ to beat them all night long, and

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Speaker 1: VJ just did. He got six unguarded catch and shoot

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Speaker 1: threes and made three of them. He hit two off

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Speaker 1: the dribble jump shots versus passive coverages. I thought he

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Speaker 1: did a wonderful job of slashing in the half court

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Speaker 1: when he had a chance, Like there was a play

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Speaker 1: where Peyton Pritchard was nail helping off of I think

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Speaker 1: it was Tyrese on the right wing and Peyton Pritchard

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Speaker 1: digs down into nail help Vj's just standing on the

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Speaker 1: left wing. This was early in the game. Talk about

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Speaker 1: those baked in driving lanes all the time. Right when

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Speaker 1: there's nail help, he's closing out on one of your shoulders,

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Speaker 1: all you have to do is rip the other direction

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Speaker 1: and you kind of have guaranteed dribble penetration right swing

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Speaker 1: past to VJ. He just ripped left immediately on the catch,

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Speaker 1: got a dunk. He in a transition push, ended up

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Speaker 1: catching Xavier Tillman in a cross match and the sixers

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00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:54,480
Speaker 1: of space the floor nasty left or right crossover, went

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Speaker 1: up and dunked it because he got there so fast

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Speaker 1: at Boston's help, was not able to step over. He

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Speaker 1: had some super dynamic transition plays. He got a ridiculous

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Speaker 1: lob in the second half that was thrown way behind

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Speaker 1: him in traffic where he took off off his right foot,

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Speaker 1: caught it with two hands and dunked it from almost

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Speaker 1: behind his head. In the first half, one of the

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Speaker 1: plays that really got me excited for his potential. He

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Speaker 1: had this nasty full speed euro step where he kind

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Speaker 1: of like attacks and semi transition, gets a little bit

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Speaker 1: of a downhill, gets some momentum going downhill, and Jalen

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Speaker 1: Brown steps up to help at the rim and at

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Speaker 1: full speed, he like plants his right foot in Euros

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Speaker 1: back to the left for like a lefty soft finish

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Speaker 1: off the glass. Just a ridiculously athletic play. And even

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Speaker 1: on the shots he missed, I thought he got great separation,

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Speaker 1: like he was able to just get to these like

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Speaker 1: really nice lift and rhythm, little mid range pull ups

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Speaker 1: that he just happened to miss because right now he's

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Speaker 1: still not quite that polished, and that stuff will come

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Speaker 1: in time. And so that's why VJ to me feels

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Speaker 1: very safe as a bet to be an All Star

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Speaker 1: in this league, because if he can stay healthy, the

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Speaker 1: reports about his character and his work ethic are great,

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Speaker 1: and he's just a transcendently athletic guard. And so what

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Speaker 1: an exciting backcourt partner for Tyrese Maxey, who was amazing

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Speaker 1: in this game. His pull up three was dialed in.

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Speaker 1: He ended up hitting three in a row in the

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00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:16,920
Speaker 1: second half that closed a double digit Celtics lead, and

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00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:19,760
Speaker 1: all three of them were nasty. He had like three

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00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:23,720
Speaker 1: or four ridiculous like hard drive to the right into

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Speaker 1: a pullback, durable quick step back three, or he was

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00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:29,920
Speaker 1: moving super fast but if you like froze it like

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00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:33,720
Speaker 1: trimmed out the move before he's straight up and down

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00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:35,800
Speaker 1: on the pull up jump shot. Just a really impressive

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00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:39,160
Speaker 1: display footwork and athleticism. He ended up going for forty

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Speaker 1: in this game, and then they just have all these

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Speaker 1: forwards who just play hard off of them. Obviously, Kelly, Youubray,

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Speaker 1: we all know he's been in that starting lineup for

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Speaker 1: a little while now. He hit the biggest shot of

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Speaker 1: the night, a little action off the right side where

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00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:53,960
Speaker 1: that Sam Howser made a poor defensive decision. He helped

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Speaker 1: off the strong side corner when it was pretty unnecessary,

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00:16:56,560 --> 00:16:59,640
Speaker 1: and so it was a little easy kickouts. One of

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00:16:59,680 --> 00:17:01,960
Speaker 1: those things were in the moment you're like, okay, Kelly

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Speaker 1: had been off from three for most of the game,

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Speaker 1: but at the same time, you stick to your defensive principles.

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Speaker 1: Like Quentin Grimes was already wide open at the top

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Speaker 1: of the key on this play, in large part because

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Speaker 1: his man was already helping. So it was just kind

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00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:16,160
Speaker 1: of like an unnecessary overhelp from Sam Hauser, And that

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Speaker 1: pass back across your body to the top of the

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00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:24,560
Speaker 1: key to Grimes is a much tougher pass to make

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Speaker 1: than like a little five foot shovel pass to a

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00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:29,960
Speaker 1: wide open man in the corner. Kelly Ubre hits that shot.

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Speaker 1: It effectively amounted to the game winner because they were

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Speaker 1: down two when he hit that shot. But I was

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Speaker 1: also really impressed by Dominic Barlow and Jabari Walker. The

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Speaker 1: two of them both just kind of crashing and cutting

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Speaker 1: and running constantly and just wrecking havoc at the rim

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Speaker 1: just by being big athletes off of the attention that

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00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:50,119
Speaker 1: was garnered by their guards. Honestly, the only disappointing thing

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Speaker 1: if you were a seventy six ers fan was that

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00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:54,879
Speaker 1: Joel Embiid looked like an absolute shell of himself. Like

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Speaker 1: Jackson and I were joking before we started recording, like

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Speaker 1: I don't think he made a single move towards the

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Speaker 1: best in that entire game. Every time he caught it

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Speaker 1: was just kind of like a face up jumper. You

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00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:07,320
Speaker 1: had Jalen Brown in a post up and like just

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00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:09,920
Speaker 1: spun over his left shoulder for a super difficult fade away.

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00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,639
Speaker 1: You could tell the lift isn't there. The left shoulder

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00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:15,320
Speaker 1: fade away. As a classic example, that's one of the

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00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:17,640
Speaker 1: toughest shots in basketball for a right handed player because

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Speaker 1: you have to pivot and like square up in mid

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Speaker 1: air and he just didn't get close to enough lift

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00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:24,240
Speaker 1: and so he kind of just flung it up there

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00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:25,840
Speaker 1: and it didn't really have much of a chance to

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Speaker 1: go in. He had some plays in help side it.

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00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:29,600
Speaker 1: He has a couple plays, like he had a block

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Speaker 1: in transition in the second half where you're like, whoa,

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00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,280
Speaker 1: that was kind of like a throwback little play. But

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Speaker 1: like for the most part, he didn't really seem very

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00:18:37,119 --> 00:18:40,040
Speaker 1: vertical or mobile around the basket and help on defense.

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Speaker 1: He just kind of looked he looked like his knees

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00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:45,600
Speaker 1: are shot. But let's hope that he's just working his

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Speaker 1: way back and then he can continue to get better

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Speaker 1: as the season progressive. It made me happy to see

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Speaker 1: him out there playing, but it was definitely disappointing to

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Speaker 1: see just the level of physical aggression that he had.

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Speaker 1: But what a fun backcourt to root for. Now you

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Speaker 1: have Quinn Grimes too, Like obviously he was there last year,

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Speaker 1: but do you have Quentin Grimes and Jared McCain as well,

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Speaker 1: Like you have four really good guards. Grimes had a

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Speaker 1: huge three late off the left wing, kind of a

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00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:10,000
Speaker 1: contested one when they really needed it. Jared mccaina obviously

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Speaker 1: will be back eventually when his thumb gets better. It's

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00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:15,399
Speaker 1: fun team for Sixers fans. I would imagine that the

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00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:18,280
Speaker 1: edgecomb stuff had to have been the antidote to the

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00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:22,000
Speaker 1: Joe El embiid frustrations on the Celtics front. They got

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00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:25,480
Speaker 1: stagnant late. They started spamming Jalen Brown Jalen Brown high

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00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:28,520
Speaker 1: post ups and he hit one of them, but there

408
00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:30,280
Speaker 1: were some misses in there, and it just kind of

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00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:31,920
Speaker 1: got stagnant and they got away from some of the

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00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:34,240
Speaker 1: stuff they were doing earlier in the game. They did

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00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:36,520
Speaker 1: control the majority of the game, though in large part

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Speaker 1: because they do have a lot of talented perimeter players

413
00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:42,960
Speaker 1: like Derek White, Peyton Pritchard, Jalen Brown, and Anthony Simons

414
00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,480
Speaker 1: all had moments in the game where they had big

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Speaker 1: stretches on offense where they put some points up and

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00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:51,119
Speaker 1: kind of got into a little bit of a flow.

417
00:19:51,359 --> 00:19:54,400
Speaker 1: Anfrony applied some more rim pressure than he did in preseason.

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Speaker 1: He had a big semi transition dunk where he crossed

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00:19:57,240 --> 00:19:58,960
Speaker 1: his man up and went up off his right foot

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Speaker 1: and dunked it with two hands. Yeah, the only thing

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00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:05,119
Speaker 1: that really stood out to me, They just struggled to

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Speaker 1: guard in large part because their front courd is just

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00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:11,919
Speaker 1: so limited, and that's a fast sixers team, and so

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00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:14,359
Speaker 1: when you don't have rim protection behind them, it just

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00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:17,080
Speaker 1: puts your guards in a really tough spot. And man,

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00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:20,439
Speaker 1: that center rotation looked brutals. Zavi or Tillman missed several

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00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:22,560
Speaker 1: threes that looked like they had no chance to go in.

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00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:25,280
Speaker 1: Right at the end of the game late off of

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00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,280
Speaker 1: a miss from Jalen Brown, he had a point blank range,

430
00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:31,439
Speaker 1: little kind of touch floater hook thing that was like

431
00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:33,919
Speaker 1: three feet from the basket that he left short. That

432
00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:37,719
Speaker 1: was a huge miss. In crunch time. Luca Garza couldn't

433
00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:41,280
Speaker 1: hit a shot. Nimi Kuita was probably the best guy

434
00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:43,200
Speaker 1: that we saw last night. He put up a decent

435
00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:45,680
Speaker 1: stat line. Sits on Wednesday put up a decent stat line,

436
00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,160
Speaker 1: but it was just jarring to see that core juxtaposed

437
00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:52,240
Speaker 1: with what we saw last year from the Celtics from

438
00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:54,560
Speaker 1: the center position. All right, let's start getting into our

439
00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:58,080
Speaker 1: mail back questions. Jason, I understand you're a Lakers fan

440
00:20:58,119 --> 00:20:59,920
Speaker 1: and also a Lebron fan, but I believe that you've

441
00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:02,280
Speaker 1: too much stock into the stardom of Luca and have

442
00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:05,680
Speaker 1: them ranked too high on your championship contenders list. To me,

443
00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:07,600
Speaker 1: at most, they should be closer to the bottom of

444
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:10,560
Speaker 1: the puncher's chance tier, behind teams like the Knicks, Clippers,

445
00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:13,359
Speaker 1: t Wolves, and Warriors. Those teams, while they had their flaws,

446
00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:15,160
Speaker 1: are better constructed than the Lakers, And to me, it's

447
00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:17,320
Speaker 1: foolish to be blinded by a potential all time great

448
00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:19,879
Speaker 1: season by LUCA turning into a deep playoff run. In

449
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:22,720
Speaker 1: the parody era of the NBA, I've yet to mention Lebron,

450
00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:24,920
Speaker 1: who is forty year old star and can be a

451
00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:26,960
Speaker 1: star on offense on any given night, but defensively he

452
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:29,000
Speaker 1: can be picked on when not going against star power

453
00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:32,400
Speaker 1: against power style offensive players, and can be caught ball

454
00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:34,879
Speaker 1: watching at times. And I feel like that, combined with

455
00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:37,239
Speaker 1: your other two best players in Luca and Reeves not

456
00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:39,800
Speaker 1: being plus defenders, as a recipe for another first round exit.

457
00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:43,200
Speaker 1: So there's an interesting point you're making, which I want

458
00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:44,639
Speaker 1: to get into in a minute. I do disagree with

459
00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:47,840
Speaker 1: some of the specifics, like Lebron was one of the

460
00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:50,240
Speaker 1: best ISO defenders in the league last year and had

461
00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:52,480
Speaker 1: a stretch really for like two thirds of the season

462
00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:54,560
Speaker 1: where he was an all defense level player. He got

463
00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:56,560
Speaker 1: off to a rough start to the year, but like

464
00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:00,480
Speaker 1: to me, Lebron when he's healthy in this actually in

465
00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:02,680
Speaker 1: a role like this alongside Luca where he doesn't have

466
00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:05,119
Speaker 1: to do as much offensively, I think he's one of

467
00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,639
Speaker 1: the most important defensive players on the Lakers. To be

468
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,600
Speaker 1: honest with you, I thought you saw the absence of

469
00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:13,240
Speaker 1: him in a big way against the Warriors. He is

470
00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:15,159
Speaker 1: a huge part of their ability to kind of like

471
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:18,440
Speaker 1: troll the back line off of Golden State's actions. And

472
00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:21,120
Speaker 1: he's just one of the most attentive defenders and better

473
00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:24,360
Speaker 1: communicators on the team. I mean, he was second team

474
00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:26,600
Speaker 1: All NBA last year. I don't know what it is. Like,

475
00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:28,760
Speaker 1: I get it he has sciatica. He's out to start

476
00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:31,320
Speaker 1: the year, But like, he just had two seasons where

477
00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:33,679
Speaker 1: he played seventy games and made the All NBA team twice.

478
00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:36,520
Speaker 1: I somehow he's still underrated. I don't know how that

479
00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:40,199
Speaker 1: keeps happening. But like I'm I don't think the Lakers

480
00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:42,760
Speaker 1: have a Lebron problem. Let's just put it that way.

481
00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:46,320
Speaker 1: That said, like I do agree with you that I'm

482
00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:49,640
Speaker 1: the Lakers I'm lower on than when I originally did

483
00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:53,560
Speaker 1: my Contenders video. So to be one hundred percent transparent,

484
00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:57,240
Speaker 1: we recorded our contender rankings in early October. I want

485
00:22:57,240 --> 00:22:59,439
Speaker 1: to say it was like on October second, Okay, so

486
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:02,240
Speaker 1: it was before I had seen them play any basketball.

487
00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:04,320
Speaker 1: It was based on the fact that the Lakers won

488
00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:06,720
Speaker 1: fifty games last year and they were the three seed,

489
00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:10,000
Speaker 1: and looking at the improved version of the Lakers with

490
00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:14,200
Speaker 1: like Luka Doncic being in better shape and them essentially

491
00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:17,560
Speaker 1: adding three rotation level players for nothing and only losing

492
00:23:17,640 --> 00:23:19,399
Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith, who by the way, I think Dorian

493
00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:23,800
Speaker 1: has been very important over the years. But like again,

494
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:25,280
Speaker 1: this was a team that couldn't even play a center

495
00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:27,520
Speaker 1: against Minnesota. They get a guy like DeAndre and who's

496
00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:30,119
Speaker 1: very flawed but at least can play the position. You

497
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:32,640
Speaker 1: hit a guy like Marcus Smart, who's a big upgrade

498
00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:35,240
Speaker 1: over someone like Jordan Goodwin, for example. Like that was

499
00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:38,000
Speaker 1: what that was my rationale when I originally put that together.

500
00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:40,600
Speaker 1: But I did a recording with the Nerd Sesh guys

501
00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:43,440
Speaker 1: a couple weeks after that. It was like mid mid October,

502
00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:46,280
Speaker 1: like October fifteenth or sixteenth or so, where I had

503
00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:48,199
Speaker 1: seen them play in preseason a few times, and I

504
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:50,639
Speaker 1: was pretty underwhelmed, and I talked about how I was

505
00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:54,000
Speaker 1: gonna put a couple teams ahead of them, and right

506
00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:56,639
Speaker 1: now I agree. Like so I originally my contender rankings,

507
00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:59,680
Speaker 1: if you remember, I had Denver, Oklahoma City, Cleveland, Minnesota.

508
00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,399
Speaker 1: Then I the Lakers at five after what I've seen

509
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:04,320
Speaker 1: from preseason in camp, and by the way, this list

510
00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:09,000
Speaker 1: is constantly in a shift throughout the season. My preliminary

511
00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:13,240
Speaker 1: rankings in like early October, those are essentially on paper rankings,

512
00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:15,800
Speaker 1: but on paper means nothing when you throw the ball

513
00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:17,520
Speaker 1: up in the air and we're on the hardwood and

514
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:19,960
Speaker 1: we're playing basketball, right So, like, we have a bunch

515
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,320
Speaker 1: more data. Now, we have training camps from all these teams,

516
00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:24,800
Speaker 1: We have a handful of regular season games. The two

517
00:24:24,840 --> 00:24:27,240
Speaker 1: teams I would clearly put above them now are Houston

518
00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:30,399
Speaker 1: and Golden State. I think I'm inclined to put Golden

519
00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:33,760
Speaker 1: State at that five spot, potentially even that four spot

520
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:36,520
Speaker 1: above Minnesota. I kind of have Minnesota, Golden State in

521
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:40,560
Speaker 1: Houston kind of vying and competing for that next spot

522
00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:43,399
Speaker 1: behind Denver and Oklahoma City at this point. Again, that

523
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:45,160
Speaker 1: could change in a few weeks, but that's just where

524
00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:47,840
Speaker 1: I'm at right now. But it's a long season and

525
00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:49,840
Speaker 1: I expect a lot to change over the course of

526
00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:52,200
Speaker 1: the year. The Lakers are playing bad basketball right now,

527
00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:54,000
Speaker 1: but they have a lot that they can clean up,

528
00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:56,479
Speaker 1: and they have a bona fide top tier superstar at

529
00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:58,879
Speaker 1: the top at like the peak of his powers, and

530
00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,720
Speaker 1: Lebron James will eventu return to this team. I think

531
00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:04,960
Speaker 1: it's certainly possible that he ends up getting traded or

532
00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:06,720
Speaker 1: something or bought out or something like that, but I

533
00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:08,840
Speaker 1: still think it's far more likely than not that he

534
00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,679
Speaker 1: plays basketball for the Lakers until he retires. And so

535
00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:14,480
Speaker 1: at some point late October or excuse me, late November

536
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:17,119
Speaker 1: early December, he's gonna return to this team, and he

537
00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:19,960
Speaker 1: immediately addresses a lot of their biggest concerns in terms

538
00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:23,240
Speaker 1: of just like size and physicality and basketball IQ and

539
00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:25,679
Speaker 1: defensive communication on the back line and all that kind

540
00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:28,480
Speaker 1: of stuff. So like they're gonna have some The Lakers

541
00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:30,119
Speaker 1: are gonna have something to say at some point. I

542
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:32,520
Speaker 1: have no idea what level they'll be able to reach.

543
00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:35,679
Speaker 1: Right now, they look pretty mediocre and unathletic, so I'm

544
00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:39,760
Speaker 1: dropping them to seventh, behind Houston and Golden State, as

545
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:41,920
Speaker 1: well as the original four teams that I named Denver,

546
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:45,119
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City, Cleveland, Minnesota. After that point, like, I'm just

547
00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:47,160
Speaker 1: not super high on the Knicks. I know they won

548
00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:49,200
Speaker 1: their first game. I'm keeping an open mind with the

549
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:51,080
Speaker 1: new coaching staff. I want to see what they've got.

550
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:54,439
Speaker 1: But like, to me, the Knicks, if you literally just

551
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:57,240
Speaker 1: remove four wins against the Celtics in the second round,

552
00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:01,160
Speaker 1: were incredibly underwhelming all season law last year. It's gonna

553
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,200
Speaker 1: take a lot for me to kind of turn around

554
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:06,119
Speaker 1: my opinion on the Knicks. And then the Clippers literally

555
00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:09,480
Speaker 1: went into Utah and got their asses beat. I'm like,

556
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:13,480
Speaker 1: I'm not about to jump onto to the Clippers bandwagon

557
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:17,360
Speaker 1: two day of all days, Like, the Lakers have looked disappointing,

558
00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:21,119
Speaker 1: but so have the Clippers so well. We'll continue to

559
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:23,879
Speaker 1: kind of evaluate that over time. Like if two weeks

560
00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:26,479
Speaker 1: from now we're gonna do power rankings, I'm gonna talk

561
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,679
Speaker 1: about contender rankings when I make changes as we kind

562
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:30,320
Speaker 1: of work our way through the season. But yeah, like

563
00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 1: in early October, October second I had the Lakers at five,

564
00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:36,560
Speaker 1: I'm dropping them to seven at this point, with Houston

565
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:40,080
Speaker 1: and Golden State moving above them, is there a world

566
00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:42,480
Speaker 1: in which Jonathan Cammingham matures to a point where he

567
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,520
Speaker 1: doesn't get traded off the Warriors? Also, simply calling Steph

568
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:47,879
Speaker 1: the greatest shooter of all time doesn't do his greatness justice.

569
00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:50,119
Speaker 1: He is one of the greatest scorers and greatest players period.

570
00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:53,639
Speaker 1: I completely agree to me. Steph is the fifth greatest

571
00:26:53,680 --> 00:26:57,600
Speaker 1: perimeter player of all time, just behind Michael Jordan, Lebron James,

572
00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:00,879
Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant, and Magic Johnson. I agree with you that

573
00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:04,919
Speaker 1: kind of like, like defining his game as just elite

574
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:09,919
Speaker 1: shooting is a huge, you know, like disservice to what

575
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,119
Speaker 1: he's accomplished in this league. I think he's the best

576
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:15,560
Speaker 1: off ball mover in the history of the league. He's

577
00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:18,160
Speaker 1: one of the most conditioned athletes in the league. I mean,

578
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:19,679
Speaker 1: the dude has put in a ton of work in

579
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:21,600
Speaker 1: his body. Do you guys remember when he hit that

580
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,439
Speaker 1: I just watching the highlight again this morning. He had

581
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:27,119
Speaker 1: like a thirty seven footer last night to tie the

582
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:30,000
Speaker 1: game at one twenty. Like it was literally a thirty

583
00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:32,879
Speaker 1: seven footer off of a ball screen, and you know

584
00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:34,640
Speaker 1: he runs over He kind of like signals to call

585
00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:37,320
Speaker 1: the time out to the Denver bench and then he

586
00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:40,400
Speaker 1: runs over and he just flexes, and you're like, holy shit,

587
00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:43,520
Speaker 1: Like Steph is jacked. Like he has clearly worked a

588
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:45,679
Speaker 1: ton on his body, which is, by the way, has

589
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:48,960
Speaker 1: helped him to become a better, more useful defender, and

590
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:51,800
Speaker 1: has helped him to handle off ball contact and just

591
00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:55,719
Speaker 1: in general get open easier. And as the league has

592
00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:58,080
Speaker 1: become more physical, like I saw a bunch of times

593
00:27:58,119 --> 00:28:00,639
Speaker 1: on Opening Night where he's like throwing win moves on

594
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:03,280
Speaker 1: Gabe Vincent and getting open because he's just so damned strong.

595
00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:07,879
Speaker 1: Now he's legitimately much stronger than a guy like Gabe Vincent, right, So,

596
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:10,320
Speaker 1: like he's putting a ton of work there. He's a

597
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:12,280
Speaker 1: very good passer. This is a guy who does a

598
00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:15,160
Speaker 1: lot of his work off the ball. But if they

599
00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:20,080
Speaker 1: ran like twenty eighteen Rockets offense or twenty nineteen Rockets

600
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:23,000
Speaker 1: offense where they just spam Steph high pick and rolls

601
00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:26,040
Speaker 1: spread with shooting, I think Steph could get up around

602
00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:28,879
Speaker 1: eight to nine assists per game easily. I think he's

603
00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,399
Speaker 1: a high level passer in that regard, And then I

604
00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:33,560
Speaker 1: think he's one of the best competitors of his era. Like,

605
00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:36,439
Speaker 1: this is a guy that is, you know, wired in

606
00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:40,200
Speaker 1: a way that drives him to a different extent than

607
00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:42,200
Speaker 1: many of the players in this league. So I agree

608
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:44,840
Speaker 1: with you that kind of synthesizing him down to just

609
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:49,240
Speaker 1: a great shooter doesn't do him justice. To your question

610
00:28:49,280 --> 00:28:52,120
Speaker 1: about Johnathan Kaminga, I absolutely think there's a world in

611
00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:54,640
Speaker 1: which Jonathan Kminga matures to a point where he doesn't

612
00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:58,120
Speaker 1: get traded off the Warriors. I mean, anybody who's close

613
00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:00,800
Speaker 1: to the Warriors will tell you that. Even though there's

614
00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:03,400
Speaker 1: a lot of people in their basketball operations that have

615
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:07,360
Speaker 1: been skeptical about him in his fit, Joe Lakub loves

616
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 1: the guy, Like Joe Lakub is obsessed with Jonathan Kaminga

617
00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:13,920
Speaker 1: and wants to keep him. And so if Jonathan Kaminga

618
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:17,280
Speaker 1: plays well enough over the course of the next three

619
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:20,040
Speaker 1: months or so, I think it's more likely than not

620
00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:23,400
Speaker 1: that he doesn't get traded. I'm a big believer and

621
00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:26,080
Speaker 1: let's not overreact to one game or two games under

622
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:29,800
Speaker 1: any circumstances. We talked about this after the Lakers game,

623
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:34,160
Speaker 1: Like both the Lakers and Denver are big, slow teams.

624
00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:37,240
Speaker 1: When you're big and slow and you've got Steph Curry,

625
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:39,280
Speaker 1: you're gonna cut him to pieces in a lot of ways.

626
00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:43,600
Speaker 1: I've talked at length about how Steph in particular causes

627
00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:47,720
Speaker 1: massive problems for Denver's pick and roll defense because Jokich

628
00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:50,280
Speaker 1: is slow and he can just get to his spots

629
00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:52,560
Speaker 1: whenever he wants to. That's not me trying to pour

630
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,000
Speaker 1: cold water on the Warriors. It just means I want

631
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:57,320
Speaker 1: to see them against some different types of matchups, Like

632
00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:02,640
Speaker 1: when you're playing against really and athletic perimeter defenses, the

633
00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:06,360
Speaker 1: job changes and suddenly those reads become like instead of

634
00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:08,360
Speaker 1: having like this big of a window to make a read,

635
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 1: it's more like this big of a window to make

636
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,400
Speaker 1: or read. Like everything just gets a little bit faster.

637
00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:15,320
Speaker 1: Everything just gets a little bit more difficult to read

638
00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:17,800
Speaker 1: and to process. And so those are the kinds of

639
00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:21,440
Speaker 1: games where we're gonna see a different challenge for Jonathan

640
00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:24,000
Speaker 1: kaminga right. But what we've seen early in the season

641
00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:26,240
Speaker 1: is he's knocking down his catch and shoot threes, which

642
00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:28,880
Speaker 1: is absolutely crucial. He's making good reads in the offense.

643
00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:32,800
Speaker 1: He's being aggressive, but not too aggressive, like he's he's

644
00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:36,680
Speaker 1: not completely shelving Jonathan kaminga the scorer, but he is

645
00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:40,240
Speaker 1: kind of refining it and being picky about when he's

646
00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:43,160
Speaker 1: when he's going, and he's playing great defense. I thought

647
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,760
Speaker 1: he was a monster defensively down the stretch against Denver

648
00:30:46,120 --> 00:30:48,400
Speaker 1: so like, and he got cooked by Luca, but Luca's

649
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,880
Speaker 1: Luca right, so like overall, like he's off to a

650
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:54,320
Speaker 1: great start. But the Warriors have played two teams that

651
00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:59,960
Speaker 1: kind of like slot nicely into their into their advance.

652
00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:03,840
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying this retroactively. I said last year

653
00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:06,680
Speaker 1: after the first time the Lakers played the Warriors with

654
00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:09,600
Speaker 1: Luka Doncic, I was like, Oh, the Warriors are too

655
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:12,080
Speaker 1: fast for them. This is a bad matchup for the Lakers.

656
00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:13,680
Speaker 1: I even said before the playoffs, I was like, if

657
00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:16,640
Speaker 1: the Lakers met the Warriors in a playoff series, I'd

658
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:18,840
Speaker 1: be inclined to pick the Warriors. That was after they

659
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:22,000
Speaker 1: played in the regular season and they I think they

660
00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:25,320
Speaker 1: went into La and beat them with Luca Lebron in Austin, right.

661
00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:27,760
Speaker 1: And then I've said before the season at length that

662
00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:31,120
Speaker 1: the kinds of teams that can upset Denver are teams

663
00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 1: that have really high level pick and roll players and

664
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:37,960
Speaker 1: that have speed. And I mentioned like Luca against Denver,

665
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,440
Speaker 1: and I mentioned Steph against Denver in particular. Those are

666
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:43,760
Speaker 1: just matchups that I think are favorable for Golden State.

667
00:31:44,560 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 1: That's the strength. Like I think Denver is the championship favorite.

668
00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:49,800
Speaker 1: So if you match up well against Denver, that's a

669
00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:51,920
Speaker 1: huge feather in your cap if your goal is to

670
00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:54,880
Speaker 1: win a championship, Like that means that Like let's say

671
00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:57,280
Speaker 1: that Denver meets Oklahoma City in the second round for

672
00:31:57,360 --> 00:32:00,840
Speaker 1: some reason, and they eliminate Oklahoma City and then Golden

673
00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:03,440
Speaker 1: State faces Denver in the conference finals all of a sudden,

674
00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:07,600
Speaker 1: like there's like a very significant window for Golden State

675
00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,080
Speaker 1: to slip through there and win a title. Now, Golden

676
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:13,120
Speaker 1: State did provide some issues for Oklahoma City last year.

677
00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:17,320
Speaker 1: We talked about this in our Oka see like who

678
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:20,080
Speaker 1: can beat Oklahoma City series, And like I think Jimmy

679
00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:24,480
Speaker 1: and Horford and Draymond are just such high IQ defenders

680
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:26,920
Speaker 1: that they can cause some problems for Oklahoma City's offense.

681
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:29,720
Speaker 1: But what I specifically worry about the Oklahoma City matchup

682
00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:32,640
Speaker 1: for Golden State is just they have all that speed,

683
00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:35,240
Speaker 1: and that's the kind of thing that I think could

684
00:32:35,320 --> 00:32:37,600
Speaker 1: be a very different type of challenge for a Golden

685
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:41,240
Speaker 1: State team that does lack offensive firepower once you get

686
00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:45,080
Speaker 1: off of steph. So I'm just curious to see it. Like,

687
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:49,000
Speaker 1: the Warriors have aced every test so far, but there

688
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:51,440
Speaker 1: are more tests down the line, and as long as

689
00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:55,280
Speaker 1: Jonathan Minga keeps performing well in those tests, He's going

690
00:32:55,360 --> 00:32:56,640
Speaker 1: to be a Warrior at the end of the season,

691
00:32:56,640 --> 00:33:02,959
Speaker 1: and he very well might be a Warrior long term.

692
00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:05,680
Speaker 1: Next question, you mentioned last season's Lakers team handling the

693
00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:08,120
Speaker 1: Warriors better due to Anthony Davis being able to roam,

694
00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:11,240
Speaker 1: slash protect the rim, allowing the perimeter defenders to overplay

695
00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:13,880
Speaker 1: the three point line. Looking towards the season, which playoff

696
00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:16,720
Speaker 1: teams would give Golden State the most trouble and conversely

697
00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:18,560
Speaker 1: teams who Golden State fans should hope to be a

698
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:21,120
Speaker 1: match up in May. So again, this is just really

699
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:23,240
Speaker 1: quick follow up to what we were just talking about.

700
00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:25,960
Speaker 1: I think the teams in particular that worry me for

701
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:28,800
Speaker 1: Golden State are really fast and athletic perimeter teams that

702
00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:31,280
Speaker 1: are also high IQs. So like, for instance, one of

703
00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:34,520
Speaker 1: the things that always worried me about Minnesota is Minnesota

704
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:37,240
Speaker 1: has a lot of guys that, despite being good defenders,

705
00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:41,120
Speaker 1: can lose their attentiveness off ball and they can lose

706
00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:43,400
Speaker 1: track of guys like Steph. This was something that happened

707
00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:47,120
Speaker 1: in the regular season in Minnesota Golden State matchups, and

708
00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:49,600
Speaker 1: it was why Golden State I think, in a lot

709
00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:52,240
Speaker 1: of ways presented problems for Minnesota when they were healthy.

710
00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:54,320
Speaker 1: Last year. That series was kind of like a coin

711
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:56,920
Speaker 1: flip to me if both teams were healthy, But Golden

712
00:33:56,960 --> 00:33:59,480
Speaker 1: State presents a lot of problems with them because Minnesota

713
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:03,760
Speaker 1: struggles to track off ball shooters. But specifically Oklahoma City

714
00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:05,920
Speaker 1: is a team that I have my eye on. Oklahoma

715
00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:11,960
Speaker 1: City provides that combination of high IQ speed that's not

716
00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:15,080
Speaker 1: going to lose track of Steph and they're not gonna

717
00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:17,560
Speaker 1: botch as many switches as other teams, and they have

718
00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:21,040
Speaker 1: rim protection and Chet Holmgren to roam around the basket.

719
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:23,960
Speaker 1: They're gonna present some problems. Another team I think is

720
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:28,080
Speaker 1: the Clippers. They have some really high level perimeter defenders

721
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:30,319
Speaker 1: in Chris Doun and Derek Jones Junior that can chase

722
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:33,800
Speaker 1: Steph around while also having high IQ off ball defenders

723
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:36,319
Speaker 1: and some rim protection with Zoo. We saw that in

724
00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:39,440
Speaker 1: the late regular season game last year. So there are

725
00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:42,040
Speaker 1: teams that I think present a different challenge for Golden State,

726
00:34:42,080 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 1: and I am just curious to see what they look

727
00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:47,480
Speaker 1: like when they run into those teams. But I do

728
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:49,719
Speaker 1: think Golden State matches up well with a team like

729
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:52,040
Speaker 1: the Lakers. I do think Golden State matches up really

730
00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:54,560
Speaker 1: well with a team like Denver and then Minnesota just

731
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:57,480
Speaker 1: because of their lack of off ball attentiveness. Do you

732
00:34:57,520 --> 00:34:59,760
Speaker 1: think there's a chance the Spurs don't have to trade

733
00:34:59,760 --> 00:35:01,640
Speaker 1: to in the Chip next season or in any other

734
00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:04,120
Speaker 1: or in other words, what is the lowest limit that

735
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:06,440
Speaker 1: has to happen for the Spurs to not just be

736
00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:08,400
Speaker 1: one of the contenders, but to really see that it

737
00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:12,040
Speaker 1: could happen like Oklahoma City in Game one last season,

738
00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:13,440
Speaker 1: in game one of the regular season, that was when

739
00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:15,719
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City went into Denver and kick Denver's ass. If

740
00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:18,920
Speaker 1: you guys remember, So, here's the thing. I'm gonna say,

741
00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:21,200
Speaker 1: the same thing that I was talking about with Golden State.

742
00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:24,319
Speaker 1: It's very encouraging for showing for the Spurs. You don't

743
00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:26,360
Speaker 1: even have dearon Fox and yet all your young guards

744
00:35:26,360 --> 00:35:32,400
Speaker 1: play pretty well. Your defense just utterly demolishes Dallas. Victor

745
00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:35,040
Speaker 1: women Yama is hoop and his ass off, Steph Castle's

746
00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:37,799
Speaker 1: throwing lobs in transition, and damn near getting a twenty

747
00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:40,600
Speaker 1: point triple double. There's a lot of upside with what

748
00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:43,680
Speaker 1: you saw from that one particular matchup, but it was

749
00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:46,799
Speaker 1: a team that I think was a good matchup for

750
00:35:46,960 --> 00:35:50,200
Speaker 1: san Antonio, right, Like Dallas is super light on shooting

751
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,799
Speaker 1: and ball handling that allows Victor women Yama to roam

752
00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:56,640
Speaker 1: the paint really well right on the other end of

753
00:35:56,640 --> 00:35:58,279
Speaker 1: the floor. Like we talked about that night, I think

754
00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:02,200
Speaker 1: Victor can kind of cook any bigger player in the

755
00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:04,960
Speaker 1: league because they're all too big to be able to

756
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,920
Speaker 1: move with him, but they're all not big enough to

757
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:10,880
Speaker 1: actually bother him because he's so damn tall. So, like,

758
00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:14,600
Speaker 1: I think there'll be different challenges with San Antonio, Like

759
00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:18,040
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City's a classic example where they're going to be smaller,

760
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:21,080
Speaker 1: quicker up underneath you, and it's going to be a

761
00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,600
Speaker 1: lot more about processing and shooting. And you know, this

762
00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:25,759
Speaker 1: is a San Antonio team that's light on shooting, right,

763
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:29,680
Speaker 1: So I think, like it's ridiculous to overreact to one

764
00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:33,680
Speaker 1: game against a heavily flawed Dallas Mavericks roster. But we'll

765
00:36:33,719 --> 00:36:35,879
Speaker 1: just continue to watch them and see how they develop. Yes,

766
00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:39,400
Speaker 1: if Steph Castle and Devin Vessel and Dylan Harper and

767
00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:43,400
Speaker 1: all these guys just blossom and Deer and Fox is

768
00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:45,719
Speaker 1: a big bounce back season that's closer to two years

769
00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:48,239
Speaker 1: ago rather than last year, then yeah, they might not

770
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:50,680
Speaker 1: need to make a trade, and they might be able

771
00:36:50,719 --> 00:36:53,880
Speaker 1: to just kind of naturally improve internally and make a

772
00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:55,799
Speaker 1: run for the championship at some point in the next

773
00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:58,319
Speaker 1: couple of years. But I think it's more likely than

774
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,520
Speaker 1: not that over the course of this season, their limitations

775
00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:05,040
Speaker 1: and shooting and just youthful inconsistency lead them to want

776
00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:07,960
Speaker 1: to bring veteran shooting in and just a little bit

777
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:11,120
Speaker 1: more of like a solid, kind of like higher floor

778
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:13,839
Speaker 1: option at some of their position groups. Now, the thing

779
00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:19,760
Speaker 1: is is Victor is messing up timeline stuff, because Victor

780
00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:23,160
Speaker 1: very well might be just a legitimate top tier superstar

781
00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:25,719
Speaker 1: this year. It seems likely at this point after what

782
00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:28,080
Speaker 1: we saw on opening night. And so if Victor is

783
00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:30,879
Speaker 1: going to be that guy, all of a sudden, you're

784
00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:33,560
Speaker 1: in your championship window now and so it kind of

785
00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:35,799
Speaker 1: changes your calculus when you're building the team. So it's

786
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:38,520
Speaker 1: just something to keep an eye on. We're gonna go

787
00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:41,320
Speaker 1: quick through these last ones here. How do you unlock

788
00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:44,920
Speaker 1: BAM's offense? If you're spo I think Bam kind of

789
00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:47,120
Speaker 1: is what he is at this point as an offensive player.

790
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:50,680
Speaker 1: He is a guy that struggles to make anything that's

791
00:37:50,719 --> 00:37:54,600
Speaker 1: not a dunk and like that. Just yes, he's improved

792
00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:56,640
Speaker 1: as like a standstill three point shooter, but he's not

793
00:37:56,680 --> 00:37:59,440
Speaker 1: a really high level jump shooter by any stretch of

794
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:02,760
Speaker 1: the imagination. He struggles with hooks, he struggles with floaters,

795
00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:07,480
Speaker 1: he struggles with layups, damn. Similar to Anthony Davis, although

796
00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:09,200
Speaker 1: Ad has done a lot better in terms of his

797
00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:11,440
Speaker 1: short range shot making, like his hooks and his floaters,

798
00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:14,360
Speaker 1: but similar like Bam to an even greater extent, just

799
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:17,400
Speaker 1: has never added the offensive polish necessary to be a

800
00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:20,360
Speaker 1: super high level offensive player. To me, he kind of

801
00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:21,919
Speaker 1: is what he is at this point. He's a five

802
00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:23,520
Speaker 1: out big. He's a guy that can play on the

803
00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:26,439
Speaker 1: perimeter as a screener, dribble handoff, guy that makes good

804
00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:28,759
Speaker 1: decisions with the basketball, sets good screens, and rolls hard

805
00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:31,920
Speaker 1: to the rim and he's good at hitting backcutters like that,

806
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:34,960
Speaker 1: to me is just kind of his destiny as an

807
00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:38,120
Speaker 1: NBA player at this point. What kind of season do

808
00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:40,040
Speaker 1: you think Klay Thompson is about to have. It feels

809
00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:43,239
Speaker 1: like he is completely faded out of media discussions. Well, ye,

810
00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:46,120
Speaker 1: he's not the same player used to be. I don't

811
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:48,880
Speaker 1: think Clay is going to be a super prominent player

812
00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:52,800
Speaker 1: in NBA media discussions because Clay is now at this point,

813
00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:56,120
Speaker 1: you know, not one of the ten or fifteen best

814
00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:58,880
Speaker 1: two guards in the league anymore. So one of the

815
00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:02,080
Speaker 1: things that's going to be tricky with Clay is he's

816
00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:05,239
Speaker 1: the one dead serious shooter on the team and so

817
00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:08,440
Speaker 1: he's going to be accounted for in the in the

818
00:39:08,480 --> 00:39:11,920
Speaker 1: game plan, Like opponents are going to put their most attentive,

819
00:39:13,000 --> 00:39:16,000
Speaker 1: best lock and trail defender on Clay and they're going

820
00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:17,920
Speaker 1: to count for a mall game and just dare everyone

821
00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:19,840
Speaker 1: else to shoot. He's not a guy that's going to

822
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:21,360
Speaker 1: put the ball on the floor and create offense for

823
00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 1: himself at this point, and the lack of playmaking talent

824
00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:26,640
Speaker 1: on the roster is leading him to be like, even

825
00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:29,800
Speaker 1: when he does get left open, whether it's transition chaos

826
00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:32,360
Speaker 1: or offensive rebound chaos, Like they don't always get the

827
00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:34,600
Speaker 1: ball to him, So I just don't really see him

828
00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:35,960
Speaker 1: as a guy that's gonna have too much of an

829
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:40,160
Speaker 1: impact at this phase in his career. Hi, Jason, my

830
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:42,239
Speaker 1: brother and I watch basketball like junkies and have had

831
00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:44,799
Speaker 1: this hypothesis that the game is evolving at a rate

832
00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:48,000
Speaker 1: where the skill level will soon turn basketball into a

833
00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:50,960
Speaker 1: punish league. Essentially, I believe that the majority of the

834
00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:53,600
Speaker 1: smallest defensive laps is like a bad head or a

835
00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:57,480
Speaker 1: slow rotation, will be the most important margins for successful teams.

836
00:39:57,680 --> 00:39:59,200
Speaker 1: I wanted your thoughts on that. I love the show

837
00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:01,640
Speaker 1: and your team's contra to the game. I love much

838
00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:04,160
Speaker 1: love from Brooklyn, So first of all, thanks for supporting

839
00:40:04,200 --> 00:40:07,439
Speaker 1: the show and for the kind words. What you're talking

840
00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:09,560
Speaker 1: about is something that I'm a huge believer in the

841
00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:13,880
Speaker 1: idea of, essentially, like capitalizing on the small advantages that

842
00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:16,400
Speaker 1: occur in actions, whether it's like you said, like a

843
00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:18,960
Speaker 1: guy hedges for too long and the guy who slips

844
00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:20,680
Speaker 1: out of its wide open at the three point line,

845
00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:23,279
Speaker 1: or this team is slow in rotation, so if we

846
00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:25,440
Speaker 1: just move the ball around we're going to get open shots.

847
00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:28,440
Speaker 1: I think it's a little bit more complicated in the

848
00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:31,040
Speaker 1: sense that like those kinds of advantages happen on almost

849
00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:34,160
Speaker 1: every possession somewhere. It's a lot of it has to

850
00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:37,560
Speaker 1: do with playmaking talent. Like you talk about punish as

851
00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:41,520
Speaker 1: in punishing mistakes. In order to punish mistakes, you need

852
00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:45,120
Speaker 1: two things. You need a high IQ player with the

853
00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:48,160
Speaker 1: ball that will find that mistake and hit the pass

854
00:40:48,239 --> 00:40:50,640
Speaker 1: it hit the opening. And then you need too, a

855
00:40:50,680 --> 00:40:52,560
Speaker 1: guy that's actually going to make the defense pay in

856
00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:55,080
Speaker 1: that opening, whether it's hitting a catch and shoot shot,

857
00:40:55,440 --> 00:40:57,200
Speaker 1: racking a close out and getting all the way to

858
00:40:57,200 --> 00:40:59,040
Speaker 1: the rim, or racking a close out getting to the

859
00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:01,040
Speaker 1: middle of the floor and make the next read in

860
00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:04,759
Speaker 1: that chain. Essentially, it's going to be about reading and reacting.

861
00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:09,080
Speaker 1: It's a copycat league. There's going to be a lot

862
00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:15,080
Speaker 1: of basketball operations professionals and coaching professionals that are going

863
00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:17,080
Speaker 1: to look at teams like Indiana. We talked about how

864
00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:19,960
Speaker 1: last night, I think Indiana, irrespective of talent, plays the

865
00:41:19,960 --> 00:41:22,640
Speaker 1: best basketball in the NBA because of all the things

866
00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:27,200
Speaker 1: that you specifically are mentioning. So all these entities around

867
00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:28,640
Speaker 1: the league are going to watch that and they're going

868
00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:30,120
Speaker 1: to go like, we need to do this. Why do

869
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:33,160
Speaker 1: you think you're hearing every every fucking team in training camp?

870
00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:34,879
Speaker 1: We want to run more. We want to run more.

871
00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:37,160
Speaker 1: We want to know why, because running works, and so

872
00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:39,400
Speaker 1: they want to be better basketball teams, and so they

873
00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:42,120
Speaker 1: know that that's a way to improve their basketball team.

874
00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:45,040
Speaker 1: And so essentially everyone's going to start hunting these things.

875
00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:47,879
Speaker 1: More transition pushes more action in the half court, which

876
00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:50,960
Speaker 1: is going to generate those kinds of small defensive lapses

877
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:53,120
Speaker 1: like you're talking about. From there, it's going to be

878
00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:56,680
Speaker 1: reading and reacting and play finishing, hitting those gaps with passes,

879
00:41:57,040 --> 00:41:59,680
Speaker 1: making the right decision against the advantage, and then finishing

880
00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:03,920
Speaker 1: the play by hitting shots. Can you see Jaden McDaniel's

881
00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:07,319
Speaker 1: turn into a number two for Ant? No? I don't

882
00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:09,440
Speaker 1: really see that in his future. I see him as

883
00:42:09,480 --> 00:42:11,680
Speaker 1: being a guy that can do some weak side scoring

884
00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:15,680
Speaker 1: forward stuff, you know, hitting threes, driving closeouts, doing damage

885
00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:17,600
Speaker 1: on the glass when he's being ignored. I don't see

886
00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:20,080
Speaker 1: him as a legitimate number two. The kind of player

887
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:22,200
Speaker 1: that I keep coming back to for Ant is like

888
00:42:22,239 --> 00:42:26,400
Speaker 1: a skill guard. I know it'll never happen. But like

889
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:28,600
Speaker 1: Austin Reeves is an example of a player that I

890
00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:32,160
Speaker 1: think would be a beautiful fit alongside Anthony Edwards. Kind

891
00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:34,120
Speaker 1: of like a skill, finesse guard that's good at getting

892
00:42:34,160 --> 00:42:36,600
Speaker 1: to the foul line, that has like high level mid

893
00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:41,000
Speaker 1: range scoring chops that just in general is like a

894
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:44,280
Speaker 1: finesse like offensive engine type of player off of ANT.

895
00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:45,799
Speaker 1: Like that's the kind of guy that I look at

896
00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:47,960
Speaker 1: as like a legit number two off of Ant, a

897
00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:52,319
Speaker 1: skill guard alongside Ant's like bulky athleticism in rim pressure. Right.

898
00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:55,840
Speaker 1: But I really like Jayden. I think he looks great.

899
00:42:55,960 --> 00:42:57,920
Speaker 1: I think the jump shot is real. I just think

900
00:42:57,960 --> 00:42:59,920
Speaker 1: once you start talking about number two's, I think they

901
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:01,680
Speaker 1: just need to be a little bit more refined in

902
00:43:01,719 --> 00:43:06,040
Speaker 1: terms of their offensive skill four more quick ones. As

903
00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:07,600
Speaker 1: you continue to get more and more success in the

904
00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:09,960
Speaker 1: niche of basketball content analysis, will there ever be a

905
00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:11,920
Speaker 1: time where you take your talents to covering the NFL

906
00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:14,200
Speaker 1: as well? I have your post notifications on for X

907
00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:16,000
Speaker 1: and I love your football takes when you have them.

908
00:43:16,120 --> 00:43:18,920
Speaker 1: Keep up the great work. So I love the NFL.

909
00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:22,560
Speaker 1: I've loved it since I was a kid. The long

910
00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:25,000
Speaker 1: and short of it, is is that like every year

911
00:43:25,239 --> 00:43:28,279
Speaker 1: right about now, when the NBA regular season starts, it's

912
00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:30,280
Speaker 1: really hard for me to just give it the attention.

913
00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:33,440
Speaker 1: Right Like, there was a game on last night. I

914
00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:36,480
Speaker 1: was working, so I wasn't gonna watch it, right, And

915
00:43:36,719 --> 00:43:38,799
Speaker 1: same thing goes for Sunday. There are times where like,

916
00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:40,359
Speaker 1: you know, it's Sunday and it's like, Okay, I want

917
00:43:40,360 --> 00:43:42,720
Speaker 1: to sit down and watch. But then it'll be like, well,

918
00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:44,680
Speaker 1: there were some games on the Friday night and Saturday

919
00:43:44,719 --> 00:43:46,160
Speaker 1: night slate that I need to get caught up on,

920
00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:47,799
Speaker 1: and so I'll just get my laptop out and I'll

921
00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:50,480
Speaker 1: just start watching film. And you know, it kind of

922
00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:53,440
Speaker 1: takes me back to the the kind of like that

923
00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:57,919
Speaker 1: like cliche that Lebron uses. It's that keep the main

924
00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:01,759
Speaker 1: thing the main thing, Like I don't want to sit

925
00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:04,040
Speaker 1: there and start talking about the NFL if I haven't

926
00:44:04,040 --> 00:44:08,360
Speaker 1: put in the necessary work. What I like, what allows

927
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:10,080
Speaker 1: me to cover the game the way that I do

928
00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:13,279
Speaker 1: is that I put an enormous amount of work into

929
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:17,120
Speaker 1: watching NBA games and learning about how the NBA works

930
00:44:17,160 --> 00:44:19,360
Speaker 1: on both ends of the floor and talking to smart

931
00:44:19,440 --> 00:44:22,520
Speaker 1: NBA people. And so it's one of those things where

932
00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:26,600
Speaker 1: I don't want to like take resources from that department

933
00:44:26,680 --> 00:44:29,160
Speaker 1: and dedicate them to the NFL and have my NBA

934
00:44:29,280 --> 00:44:31,680
Speaker 1: work suffer. And so is there a version of this

935
00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:34,120
Speaker 1: in the future where maybe I'm doing it. I'm not

936
00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:36,840
Speaker 1: going to say never, but in the short term, I

937
00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:38,799
Speaker 1: think it's far more likely than not that I just

938
00:44:39,320 --> 00:44:43,640
Speaker 1: stay in my wheelhouse and cover the NBA. With the

939
00:44:43,640 --> 00:44:46,120
Speaker 1: Bucks shooting so many threes, I feel like we, I'm

940
00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:48,920
Speaker 1: a fan of, lead the team and lead the NBA

941
00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:50,440
Speaker 1: in three point attempts and we can come out of

942
00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:52,520
Speaker 1: the East. Do you see the vision? I did not

943
00:44:52,560 --> 00:44:54,959
Speaker 1: see Milwaukee versus Washington. That was one of the games

944
00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:57,319
Speaker 1: that I did not watch the first through the first

945
00:44:57,320 --> 00:44:59,759
Speaker 1: few games. But we saw this last season towards the

946
00:44:59,840 --> 00:45:02,239
Speaker 1: end the year Steady died of Jannis on the ball,

947
00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:04,600
Speaker 1: a lot of guard screens surrounding him with a ton

948
00:45:04,640 --> 00:45:07,640
Speaker 1: of shooting, and Yanni's just kind of playing driving kick,

949
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:09,960
Speaker 1: like get to the basket and finish, draw fout or

950
00:45:10,040 --> 00:45:12,520
Speaker 1: spray out to a shooter. Right as far as leaning

951
00:45:12,520 --> 00:45:15,680
Speaker 1: into three point attempts, like again, like when you're not

952
00:45:15,880 --> 00:45:18,960
Speaker 1: good compared to the best teams in the league, you

953
00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:23,160
Speaker 1: want to apply as much variance as possible, right, So

954
00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:25,640
Speaker 1: it makes sense for the Bucks to be a team

955
00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:28,120
Speaker 1: that takes a lot of threes and that gives up

956
00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:31,400
Speaker 1: a lot of threes because essentially, if they protect the

957
00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:33,359
Speaker 1: rim and they force the other team to shoot, they

958
00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:35,640
Speaker 1: might go cold. And if you shoot a ton of threes,

959
00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:37,640
Speaker 1: you might get hot, and you're gonna win on the

960
00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:39,480
Speaker 1: nights when you get hot from three and the other

961
00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:42,120
Speaker 1: team doesn't. But ultimately it comes down to quality. I

962
00:45:42,160 --> 00:45:44,480
Speaker 1: don't believe in inflating your three point attempts just for

963
00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:47,160
Speaker 1: the sake of inflating your three point attempts. A bad

964
00:45:47,239 --> 00:45:51,000
Speaker 1: three point shot isn't worth three points, it's worth zero points.

965
00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:54,279
Speaker 1: You want to generate the highest available shot quality in

966
00:45:54,280 --> 00:45:55,880
Speaker 1: any situation. A lot of it will be game plan

967
00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:59,640
Speaker 1: dependent too, depending on how your opponent is guarding things.

968
00:45:59,680 --> 00:46:01,960
Speaker 1: But if the Bucks end up generating a ton of

969
00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:03,880
Speaker 1: threes with shooting off of Giannis, I think it's a

970
00:46:03,880 --> 00:46:06,920
Speaker 1: smart approach to increase variance to give them more of

971
00:46:06,920 --> 00:46:10,000
Speaker 1: an upset threat. Big fan of the show and have

972
00:46:10,080 --> 00:46:11,840
Speaker 1: learned a ton about the game from your channel, So

973
00:46:11,880 --> 00:46:12,920
Speaker 1: thank you for what you do. Thank you for the

974
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:15,280
Speaker 1: kind words and for the sport. My question is simple,

975
00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:17,800
Speaker 1: do you think it's insane to think that Wemby genuinely

976
00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:20,160
Speaker 1: might be the best player live right now? And what

977
00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:21,960
Speaker 1: would need to happen for that to be the consensus

978
00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:24,080
Speaker 1: in your opinion? Thanks again. This kind of takes me

979
00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:27,080
Speaker 1: to like the Kobe Lebron debate in the late two thousands.

980
00:46:27,120 --> 00:46:29,960
Speaker 1: If you guys, remember, it's very possible that we're looking

981
00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:32,640
Speaker 1: at this thing in like three weeks and Wemby's averaging

982
00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:37,000
Speaker 1: thirty five, fourteen and six with like five blocks or

983
00:46:37,080 --> 00:46:39,080
Speaker 1: of some insane shit like that, and then all of

984
00:46:39,120 --> 00:46:40,360
Speaker 1: us are like, oh my gosh, this one to be

985
00:46:40,400 --> 00:46:43,000
Speaker 1: the best player in the league. Similarly, Lebron in the

986
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:45,960
Speaker 1: late two thousands was just a wrecking ball is winning

987
00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:50,760
Speaker 1: sixty games with weak rosters and putting up absurd stat

988
00:46:50,800 --> 00:46:54,799
Speaker 1: lines and crazy highlights every single night. But like when

989
00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:58,480
Speaker 1: it came to slow down playoff basketball against the best

990
00:46:58,480 --> 00:47:00,920
Speaker 1: teams in the league, Kobe still better than him. In

991
00:47:00,960 --> 00:47:03,560
Speaker 1: the late two thousands, no surprise, Lebron was in his

992
00:47:03,600 --> 00:47:06,800
Speaker 1: early to mid twenties. Kobe was in his early thirties

993
00:47:07,239 --> 00:47:09,440
Speaker 1: and was more refined at that point, and he had

994
00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:13,160
Speaker 1: a lot more experience, right, But like the becoming the

995
00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:15,799
Speaker 1: best player in the NBA, becoming the best player in

996
00:47:15,840 --> 00:47:18,439
Speaker 1: the world is a playoff game. It is very much

997
00:47:18,480 --> 00:47:23,480
Speaker 1: about solving the puzzle of four elite opponents in two months,

998
00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:25,839
Speaker 1: having to beat them four times out of seven, when

999
00:47:25,880 --> 00:47:28,839
Speaker 1: all the game planning is geared around your weaknesses. So

1000
00:47:28,880 --> 00:47:31,560
Speaker 1: it's one of those things where like, there's nothing Wemby

1001
00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:33,960
Speaker 1: could do in the regular season that would convince me

1002
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:35,920
Speaker 1: that he's the best player in the world. That is

1003
00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:40,200
Speaker 1: an honor that I personally wouldn't consider him for unless

1004
00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:43,080
Speaker 1: he was doing it in the playoffs and you know,

1005
00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:47,040
Speaker 1: carrying his team to like it's not even so much

1006
00:47:47,080 --> 00:47:49,520
Speaker 1: like he has to win the title necessarily, although that

1007
00:47:49,640 --> 00:47:53,520
Speaker 1: is the ultimate kind of like, you know, signal that

1008
00:47:53,560 --> 00:47:56,160
Speaker 1: you've arrived on that front. But to me, it's more

1009
00:47:56,280 --> 00:47:59,279
Speaker 1: just like him thriving in the playoffs and being a

1010
00:47:59,320 --> 00:48:02,920
Speaker 1: dominant player off player, and like not experiencing a drop

1011
00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:06,040
Speaker 1: off from regular season production to playoff production. When he

1012
00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:08,560
Speaker 1: can tie those two things together, which obviously we haven't

1013
00:48:08,600 --> 00:48:10,560
Speaker 1: even seen that yet, that's when I would start to

1014
00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:14,760
Speaker 1: consider him to be the best player alive. Last question, Jason,

1015
00:48:14,800 --> 00:48:17,200
Speaker 1: I enjoy your content, keep up the good work. Fist bump.

1016
00:48:17,520 --> 00:48:19,480
Speaker 1: I want to ask as a thunderfan, I'm starting to

1017
00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:21,799
Speaker 1: worry about Chet. Obviously, we want him to stay healthy

1018
00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:24,799
Speaker 1: and be careful for those bumps he's absorbing, but we're

1019
00:48:24,840 --> 00:48:27,040
Speaker 1: also worried about how his offensive skill will only show

1020
00:48:27,040 --> 00:48:29,319
Speaker 1: in flashes while other times he just can become a

1021
00:48:29,360 --> 00:48:31,920
Speaker 1: non factor, especially in the clutch. What do you think

1022
00:48:31,960 --> 00:48:34,160
Speaker 1: you should be working on to stay more consistent? So

1023
00:48:34,200 --> 00:48:35,640
Speaker 1: I get triggered with this kind of thing. I feel

1024
00:48:35,680 --> 00:48:39,880
Speaker 1: like it's really hard for big lanky dudes that aren't

1025
00:48:39,960 --> 00:48:44,600
Speaker 1: super polished, like Kevin Durant for example, to be ball

1026
00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:49,080
Speaker 1: handlers in like physical late game environments, especially like I

1027
00:48:49,120 --> 00:48:51,520
Speaker 1: think it's one thing when you're big and strong like

1028
00:48:51,640 --> 00:48:55,719
Speaker 1: Jokic or Lebron or Luca, when you have like real strength,

1029
00:48:56,400 --> 00:48:58,680
Speaker 1: you can thrive in that physicality and get to your

1030
00:48:58,719 --> 00:49:00,840
Speaker 1: spot still. But like a lot of the thinner players,

1031
00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:04,480
Speaker 1: especially when they're not super polished, they can get kind

1032
00:49:04,480 --> 00:49:07,960
Speaker 1: of dislodged and beat up a little bit in those situations.

1033
00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:10,400
Speaker 1: And so I don't really ever see Chet as being

1034
00:49:10,480 --> 00:49:13,200
Speaker 1: like the guy that you're just gonna run the offense

1035
00:49:13,280 --> 00:49:16,480
Speaker 1: through and crunch time, not unless he becomes a dramatically

1036
00:49:16,480 --> 00:49:18,680
Speaker 1: better jump shooter, which he just hasn't been to this

1037
00:49:18,760 --> 00:49:21,319
Speaker 1: point in his career. But I'm still super high on Chet.

1038
00:49:21,360 --> 00:49:22,840
Speaker 1: Like I think he's still one of the most underrated

1039
00:49:22,880 --> 00:49:24,799
Speaker 1: defensive players in the league. He's a huge part of

1040
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:28,000
Speaker 1: what they did defensively in last year's playoff run. I

1041
00:49:28,040 --> 00:49:30,040
Speaker 1: do want to see him improve as a catch and

1042
00:49:30,040 --> 00:49:32,480
Speaker 1: shoot jump shooter, Like he's got to start beating nail

1043
00:49:32,480 --> 00:49:34,640
Speaker 1: help with those above the break threes off of the

1044
00:49:34,680 --> 00:49:38,480
Speaker 1: right and left wing. But like, yeah, I think I'm

1045
00:49:38,480 --> 00:49:41,480
Speaker 1: not gonna say I've learned this lesson with Shay. I

1046
00:49:41,520 --> 00:49:43,279
Speaker 1: don't want to put a ceiling on anybody, so I

1047
00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:44,879
Speaker 1: don't want to sit here and pretend is though Chet

1048
00:49:44,920 --> 00:49:47,320
Speaker 1: is incapable of becoming a guy that can become a

1049
00:49:47,400 --> 00:49:50,439
Speaker 1: high usage player in crunch time, But right now he's

1050
00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:53,360
Speaker 1: too thin and two and lacks the polish necessary to

1051
00:49:53,360 --> 00:49:56,480
Speaker 1: be that kind of guy outside of spurts, especially early

1052
00:49:56,520 --> 00:49:59,640
Speaker 1: in games and in regular season context. But the main

1053
00:49:59,680 --> 00:50:01,520
Speaker 1: thing for me is, like if he gets to the

1054
00:50:01,520 --> 00:50:04,840
Speaker 1: point where he's like a forty percent knockdown, you know,

1055
00:50:04,880 --> 00:50:07,800
Speaker 1: above the break three point shooter when he's open, that'll

1056
00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:10,560
Speaker 1: be plenty. Offensively, that's all. That's all the thunderneath from him.

1057
00:50:10,640 --> 00:50:12,719
Speaker 1: He does enough damages a cutter along the baseline and

1058
00:50:12,719 --> 00:50:15,600
Speaker 1: as an offensive rebounder, and with what he does defensively,

1059
00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:18,759
Speaker 1: and he can provide little pops of scoring throughout the

1060
00:50:18,760 --> 00:50:21,880
Speaker 1: game off the dribble, obviously inconsistently, but he can do that.

1061
00:50:22,160 --> 00:50:24,920
Speaker 1: To me, the main like kind of barrier between where

1062
00:50:24,960 --> 00:50:27,960
Speaker 1: he is right now and like making the thunder unbeatable

1063
00:50:28,200 --> 00:50:29,399
Speaker 1: is like he's got to get to the point where

1064
00:50:29,400 --> 00:50:31,239
Speaker 1: he can hit forty percent of his unguarded catch and

1065
00:50:31,239 --> 00:50:33,640
Speaker 1: shoot threes above the break. All right, guys, it's all

1066
00:50:33,719 --> 00:50:35,879
Speaker 1: have for today. As always, a sincerely appreciate you guys

1067
00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:38,560
Speaker 1: for supporting us and supporting the show. But he will

1068
00:50:38,719 --> 00:50:41,520
Speaker 1: be back on Monday. Enjoy your weekend. Lots of basketball

1069
00:50:41,560 --> 00:50:43,279
Speaker 1: to get into when we get some Monday, I would

1070
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Speaker 1: see you guys then