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Speaker 1: Slash b ball. All right, welcoon to Hoops Tonight here

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Speaker 1: at the volume. Happy Friday, everybody, hope all of you

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Speaker 1: guys had a great week. Got a jampacks, So for

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Speaker 1: you today, we're doing a mail bag and going to

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Speaker 1: be bouncing all around the league, hitting a bunch of

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Speaker 1: different teams. You guys know the joe before we get started.

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Speaker 1: Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't

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Speaker 1: that front, we also have brand new social media feeds

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Speaker 1: on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook Hoops Tonight social media feeds.

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Speaker 1: so make sure you follow us there and then keep

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Speaker 1: dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments. Our plan as

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Speaker 1: of now is to at least either do like today,

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Speaker 1: a solo mailbag or at least a mailbag at the

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Speaker 1: tail end of the show every Friday, and I'm going

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Speaker 1: so make sure you keep dropping your questions in there.

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Speaker 1: And then, last, but not least, before we get started,

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Speaker 1: Game Time today. What time is it? Game time? All right,

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Speaker 1: let's talk some basketball. If only one possible trade can

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Speaker 1: be made, what would be more essential for the Lakers?

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Speaker 1: Prioritizing an athletic guard who can defend and create or

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Speaker 1: a backup big who can defend. This has been the

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Speaker 1: big question surrounding the Lakers coming into this year, and

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Speaker 1: there's been a lot of talk about like, oh, should

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Speaker 1: they go after Kessler Edwards? Should they go after Robert Williams?

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Speaker 1: Should they be hunting a center that can anchor units

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Speaker 1: when AD's off the floor and give them a better

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Speaker 1: chance of contending when AD needs to sit out a game.

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Speaker 1: And I totally understand that point of view. For the record,

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Speaker 1: and I certainly would like to have a better backup

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Speaker 1: center off option than Jackson Hayes. That said, I think

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Speaker 1: by far the biggest issue with this roster is the

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Speaker 1: lack of PERIMETERI athleticism, And we're talking about this with

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Speaker 1: the Nerd Sash guys on Wednesday, if you guys remember,

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Speaker 1: But it's been like one of the biggest lessons I've

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Speaker 1: learned in the league over the last year or so,

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Speaker 1: extending into the tail end of last year and this year,

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Speaker 1: where it's like your ability to cover ground in rotation

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Speaker 1: and cover ground in transition and get up into ball

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Speaker 1: handlers with ball pressure is such an underrated part of

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Speaker 1: today's game. I you know, just go look at the metrics,

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Speaker 1: like these teams are playing in transition. Damn near twenty

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Speaker 1: percent of the game at this point, like like one

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Speaker 1: fifth of the basketball is being played in an up

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Speaker 1: and down setting with guys flying around the floor in transition.

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Speaker 1: You need speed, you need athleticism on the perimeter, you

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Speaker 1: need guys that can guard the ball. And the Lakers,

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Speaker 1: you know, when you look at their perimeter core, it's

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Speaker 1: in terms of athletes, like they've got other perimeter players,

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Speaker 1: but when you're looking at athletes, like guys that can

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Speaker 1: really kind of cover ground. It's like Dalton connect who's

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Speaker 1: a rookie and at this point hasn't been able to

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Speaker 1: turn his his athleticism into really functional defense. Yet there's

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Speaker 1: Gabe Vincent who can't put the ball in the basket

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Speaker 1: for whatever reason. Like it's like he's one for four,

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Speaker 1: one for five every single game. Max Christy, who I

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Speaker 1: really think could be a useful three and D player

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Speaker 1: if he ever embraced being a three and D player,

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Speaker 1: but he's just convinced he's going to be more of

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Speaker 1: an on ball creator. And I just think he's a

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Speaker 1: really immature offensive player right now. So at this point,

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Speaker 1: he's at this point you almost have to go a

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Speaker 1: different direction just because he's been so bad to start

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Speaker 1: the season. And Jared Vanderbilt, who's always hurt in Cam Reddish,

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Speaker 1: who is a NBA journeyman who brings some functional athleticism

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Speaker 1: but is so limited offensively that he becomes very difficult

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Speaker 1: to play. So, like all of the perimeter athletes on

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Speaker 1: the Lakers come with massive question marks when you look

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Speaker 1: at their actual like playable rotation guys. It's Austin Reeves,

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Speaker 1: you know, average to blow average athlete, D'Angelo Russell, below

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Speaker 1: average athlete. Ruiy Hatchamurro is very big and definitely a

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Speaker 1: decent athlete, but he's not what I would consider to

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Speaker 1: be a fast player. Lebron James, who's fast when he

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Speaker 1: wants to be, but he's forty years old and so

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Speaker 1: going to be fast and the majority of the time.

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Speaker 1: And ad who's fast for a center, but he's not

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Speaker 1: going to be covering ground on the perimeter doing all

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Speaker 1: the work that the Lakers need from their perimeter core.

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Speaker 1: And so when you combine that being just such a

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Speaker 1: big weakness on this Laker roster, which by the way,

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Speaker 1: I've been complaining about this exact weakness on this exact

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Speaker 1: roster for more than two years now. This has been

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Speaker 1: the consistent thing that I've pointed to. They're not athletic

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Speaker 1: enough at the guards. They're not athletic enough after the guards.

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Speaker 1: Right after the Western Conference Finals appearance, I said going

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Speaker 1: into the season, they need to make a d angel

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Speaker 1: A Russell trade because they are not athletic enough in

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Speaker 1: the backcourt. This is something I've been consistently tied in on,

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Speaker 1: and it's only become exacerbated by the fact that my

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Speaker 1: view of the game has shifted towards valuing that type

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Speaker 1: of skill, or I should say that type of roster

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Speaker 1: trade more than anything else. So given the option, if

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Speaker 1: the Lakers could only make one trade, I would prefer

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Speaker 1: them go find some functional perimeter athleticism. Same thing goes

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Speaker 1: for that backup center spot. Where it's like when you're

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Speaker 1: talking about backup center for a guy like Anthony Davis,

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Speaker 1: who's gonna play a lot. Again, this is not Dallas

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Speaker 1: where they're splitting their center minutes more closer to the middle, right,

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Speaker 1: or a team like Golden State who's holding Draymond in

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Speaker 1: the mid to high twenties in his minutes, right, Like

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Speaker 1: Anthony Davis is gonna play thirty five minutes a game

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Speaker 1: in the regular season in forty plus minutes a game

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Speaker 1: in the playoffs. So like the benefit of having a

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Speaker 1: really good backup center is real on the stretches of

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Speaker 1: the game when AD's out and god forbid if you

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Speaker 1: misses some time. But like in the idealized version of

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Speaker 1: your team, that's a player and you're not using very often.

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Speaker 1: And like again, maybe if you want to go huge,

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Speaker 1: if you can find a caliber center that you can

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Speaker 1: play next to Anthony Davis. That seems appealing on the

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Speaker 1: defensive end. But here we are a little chunk into

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Speaker 1: the season and Anthony Davis is still not shooting the

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Speaker 1: three ball particularly well or particularly often, So like, I

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Speaker 1: don't know that you can really get away with that

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Speaker 1: unless Anthony Davis becomes a knockdown shooter, and he just

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Speaker 1: hasn't been to this point. So like, ideally I'd like

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Speaker 1: to have both, but if I could only have one,

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Speaker 1: I would take an athletic guard who can defend and

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Speaker 1: create over a backup center for the Lakers. Next question, Hey,

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Speaker 1: Jason love your content. Turns out that the Nets have

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Speaker 1: too many good role players and have become competent, which

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Speaker 1: is bad because they need to be in the Cooper

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Speaker 1: Flag stakes. What would be your thoughts on a Schroeder

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Speaker 1: Dorian Finney Smith trade for d LO and another player

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Speaker 1: to match contracts in a pick and a pick trade. So,

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Speaker 1: Dorrian Finnehsmith is a guy that everybody should be looking at.

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Speaker 1: Dennis Schroeder to me, is a really good player. I like,

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Speaker 1: I've loved him when he was with the Lakers. I

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Speaker 1: thought he defended hard. I thought he was super competitive.

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Speaker 1: I thought he brought dribble penetration, which was really important. Like,

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Speaker 1: is he a guy that you want you're starting five

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Speaker 1: if you're a dead series championship team. No, But like

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Speaker 1: I would think I would take him as a backup

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Speaker 1: guard over many of the options that are around the NBA.

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Speaker 1: I think Dorian Finney Smith is kind of a prototypical

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Speaker 1: three and d wing. I think he's a guy that

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Speaker 1: could help a lot of teams, even like a guy

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Speaker 1: like Zira Williams is a guy that brings real functional

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Speaker 1: athleticism to the perimeter that could be had for cheap

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Speaker 1: And so like teams like Brooklyn other teams around the

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Speaker 1: NBA that either like you're talking about them overperforming, but

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Speaker 1: we got to look out for teams that underperform too

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Speaker 1: over time that might look to decide to flip players.

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Speaker 1: The Clippers are a team I could see. I would

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Speaker 1: see teams targeting Terrence Man. I would see teams targeting

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Speaker 1: Derek Jones Junior. Closer to the deadline. There's a lot

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Speaker 1: of perimeter athleticism that is not playing for top tier

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Speaker 1: championship contenders out there that can be had, and you

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Speaker 1: just got to kind of kind of have to look

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Speaker 1: around and wait for that right opportunity to pop up

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Speaker 1: to me. I look at it as like Ruey is

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Speaker 1: the more functional piece between him and de Lo. I

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Speaker 1: think both of them have their issues. Ruey's played two

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Speaker 1: playoff runs with the Lakers. I thought he was awesome

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. I thought he was really bad

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, albeit it is in one small

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Speaker 1: series that was only five games long, right, So like,

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Speaker 1: if I had to choose between those two guys, I

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Speaker 1: prefer to keep RUI So like, I'm looking at a

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Speaker 1: really athletic guard that can defend at the point of attack,

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Speaker 1: fly around and transition slot. Austin Reeves properly is a backup,

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Speaker 1: not a backup, but as a secondary perimeter defender, so

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Speaker 1: that he's guarding the other team's second best player instead

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Speaker 1: of best player. And then I think things kind of

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Speaker 1: fall into order. So like, if the Clippers continue to struggle,

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Speaker 1: Terrence Mann is a guy that I would love to

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Speaker 1: have playing the two next to Austin Reeves if Bruce

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Speaker 1: Brown could get healthy. He's like the perfect example of

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Speaker 1: this type of archetype, like keeping an eye out for

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Speaker 1: a really athletic two that has some strength to him,

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Speaker 1: that is also a functional offensive player. That's the type

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Speaker 1: of guy I'd be looking at. We'll see how it

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Speaker 1: shapes out over time. You know, these trade markets that

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Speaker 1: are so volatile and they shift all the time that

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Speaker 1: it's really hard to zero in on one particular guy.

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Speaker 1: But to me, it's like starting caliber between I'd say

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Speaker 1: six to four at the lowest, but between sixty four

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Speaker 1: and sixty six sixty seven at least two hundred and

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Speaker 1: twenty pounds of like solid functional strength and a really

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Speaker 1: good athlete who at least just knows how to play

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Speaker 1: alongside other good basketball players. Is the type of guy

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Speaker 1: I'd be looking for. I hate looking into this so much,

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Speaker 1: but why did Paul George have the ball at the

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Speaker 1: end of the Sixers game? With Maxie Ball watching? Also,

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Speaker 1: are Joel Maxi and Paul George going to have to

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Speaker 1: make the required sacrifices like oh wait Boston did to win?

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Speaker 1: Second part is obviously yes, right, like all of them

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Speaker 1: are going to have to And Bid can't play completely

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Speaker 1: in a heliocentric manner because he's got to try to

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Speaker 1: keep Paul George and Tyrese Maxi in Rhythm. You can't

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Speaker 1: just let Tyres Maxian and Joel Embiid run two man

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Speaker 1: game and turn Paul George into just solely Michael Porter Junior,

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Speaker 1: because that's going to be a misallocation of resources. You

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Speaker 1: gotta run action, you gotta keep everybody involved, and so

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Speaker 1: certainly navigating that balance is going to be a big

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Speaker 1: part of Philly's success. I watched the end of that game,

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Speaker 1: the Sixers Suns game. That was just unbelievablecause Vin Durant

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Speaker 1: just completely took over that game. I live in Tucson two,

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Speaker 1: so it was like difficult for me to track down

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Speaker 1: a stream of that game, but I was able to

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Speaker 1: watch it. It's just all these stupid politics with these

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Speaker 1: regional networks and how difficult it is to get there

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Speaker 1: to get their games when you live inside that when

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Speaker 1: you live in those particular areas anyway, the random soapbox.

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Speaker 1: But when it comes to the end of that Sixers game,

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Speaker 1: like I saw lots of people complaining like, oh, Paul

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Speaker 1: George looked off Tyrese Maxey blah blah blah, and I

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Speaker 1: get it. I think Tyres is a better player than

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Speaker 1: Paul George, I ranked him above I ranked Tyree's in

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Speaker 1: the top twenty five for me, and it did not

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Speaker 1: rank Paul George right, Like, I am a big fan

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Speaker 1: of Tyresse Maxey, big believer in who he is. That said, like,

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Speaker 1: there is something to be said about like the big

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Speaker 1: pull up shooter being sometimes as safer option in those

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Speaker 1: late game situations. So for instance, let's just take the

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Speaker 1: last two shots that both players took. So the last

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Speaker 1: shot Paul George took was a pull up jump shot

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Speaker 1: around the top of the key long two. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: agree with some of the criticisms like, Okay, I'd rather

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Speaker 1: have Paul George take a three there. Yeah, I agree

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Speaker 1: with you for the record, But it was a good

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Speaker 1: look at a shot that Paul George definitely can make

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Speaker 1: and he missed it. Tyrese Maxey's last shot, And again,

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Speaker 1: a big difference there is he's a speed guard who's

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Speaker 1: smaller and not as physically strong. So we talked about this,

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Speaker 1: like it's like the Steph Curry versus Kevin Durant thing,

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Speaker 1: Like you could argue Steph Curry's a better player, but

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Speaker 1: if I'm in a singular possession and I need a

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Speaker 1: guy to just get a shot. For the twenty seventeen Warriors,

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Speaker 1: it's probably KD because KD can hit into a high

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Speaker 1: hesitation and wait for the defender to buckle a little bit,

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Speaker 1: and he can get a decent look at a pull

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Speaker 1: up jump shot whenever he wants, whereas with Steph, like

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Speaker 1: he can run around and make moves and do whatever

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Speaker 1: he wants to do. But if like a really good

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Speaker 1: defender stays attached, what Steph doesn't have is like that

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Speaker 1: ability to get quick immediate separation for a shot off

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Speaker 1: over the top right. Same goes for Tyrese Maxy. Like

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Speaker 1: that floater that he took in the ball screen like

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Speaker 1: it was not a good shot. It was heavily contested,

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Speaker 1: it had almost no chance of going in. And it's

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Speaker 1: That's not to say that Tyres or a guy like

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Speaker 1: Steph is incapable of creating their own shot. Of course

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Speaker 1: they are. But like I just say, I'm just saying

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Speaker 1: it's defensible. I think it's defensible that Paul George was

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Speaker 1: the better option for them to go in that specific

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Speaker 1: situation before he takes a three. Also, Paul George didn't

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Speaker 1: really have it going that game, like he was kind

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Speaker 1: of out of rhythm. So like that's the other counterpoint is,

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Speaker 1: like I would also understand if Tyres Macks he took

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Speaker 1: over the offense at the tail end of the game

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Speaker 1: because he's a better player, who's more in rhythm, who's

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Speaker 1: been playing more lately and has his legs underneath him,

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Speaker 1: is in better shape. Like I understand that too, But like,

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Speaker 1: I just didn't think it was as egregious as some

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Speaker 1: of the comments that I saw on Twitter, just simply

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Speaker 1: because Paul George is six ' eight six ' nine,

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Speaker 1: and he got a decent amount of separation and had

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Speaker 1: a pretty clean look. He just missed it. And like,

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Speaker 1: I think that those big, tall wings have that ability

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Speaker 1: to on a spot just kind of rise and fire,

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Speaker 1: and I'm always gonna view that as a as a

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Speaker 1: as a viable option for late game offense. I mean,

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant's been straight up stealing games for the Phoenix

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Speaker 1: Suns with that kind of shot making. What is your

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Speaker 1: favorite offense to watch in the NBA? I thought about

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Speaker 1: this one a lot, and there's a lot of you know,

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Speaker 1: it's it's interesting because they're different, right, Like I really

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Speaker 1: enjoy watching Boston's offense because they're the best driving kick team.

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Speaker 1: So like there there's an ape. There's a visually appealing

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Speaker 1: element to driving kick basketball when when guys get in

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Speaker 1: the lane and make reads and it's like drive kick,

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Speaker 1: drive kick, drive kick. Now we get a wide open

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Speaker 1: shot making the extra pass with that that that like relentless,

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Speaker 1: like rim pressure from guys driving the basket. I've really

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Speaker 1: enjoyed watching Boston's offense over the course of the tail

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Speaker 1: end of last year. In the beginning of this year,

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Speaker 1: I really like watching Denver's offense for a completely different reason.

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Speaker 1: Right Like Nicole Jokic, the way that he can manipulate

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Speaker 1: help side defense and generate openings first teammates is really

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Speaker 1: fascinating to me. His passing connection with Aaron Gordon on

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Speaker 1: the baseline is something that I've always found really fun

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Speaker 1: to watch. I think tough shot making is fun. So

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Speaker 1: guess what I do enjoy watching Jamal Murray hit tough

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Speaker 1: step back jump shots. I do enjoy watching the Suns

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Speaker 1: and watching Kevin Durant and Devin Booker just hit tough

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Speaker 1: shot after tough shot. I've always as a basketball fan

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Speaker 1: and is a guy who plays the game at a

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Speaker 1: certain like I played in college, and I still play

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Speaker 1: as an adult for fun all the time. I enjoy

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Speaker 1: watching those things. But if I had to pick a

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Speaker 1: single offense, I'd probably say the Golden State Warriors. And

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Speaker 1: the main reason why is I find their five out

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Speaker 1: ball in player movement to be the most visually appealing

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Speaker 1: in the league. It's literally like a blender. There's nobody.

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Speaker 1: Even with all the teams that run five out and

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Speaker 1: all the teams that run some similar actions, there are

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Speaker 1: teams that copy Warriors split action. Now. There are teams

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Speaker 1: that copy a lot of the Warriors, like Chicago, you know,

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Speaker 1: like drible handoff stuff with guys back cutting out of

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Speaker 1: it and all the different things that the Warriors do.

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Speaker 1: There's a lot of teams that are copying it, but

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Speaker 1: nobody does it as often or as effectively as the

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Speaker 1: Golden State Warriors do in terms of their ball and

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Speaker 1: player movement. And it's just really fun to watch. And

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Speaker 1: I'm really really excited to see it in the next

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Speaker 1: couple of weeks too, because they've got some tougher matchups

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Speaker 1: for them. On that note, or next question, what should

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Speaker 1: we look for and the Warriors next three games to

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Speaker 1: indicate they could be a serious team regardless of whether

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Speaker 1: they win or lose. Keep it up. Not all Warriors

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Speaker 1: fans think you're a hater. I appreciate the kind words.

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Speaker 1: For the record, I always say this to you guys,

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Speaker 1: but there are far more of you guys that are

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Speaker 1: kind and who are willing to have discussion and are

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Speaker 1: willing to appreciate the dynamic between like, hey, this is

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Speaker 1: just my opinion, this is your opinion, let's talk about it.

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Speaker 1: There are far more of you guys than the nasty,

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Speaker 1: disrespectful people. And spend any time online as an adult

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Speaker 1: and you find out pretty quickly there's lots of nasty,

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Speaker 1: disrespectful people. So like I fortunately at this point, Fortunately,

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Speaker 1: at this point, I'm getting close to three years into

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Speaker 1: working with the volume, I've gotten pretty used to it,

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Speaker 1: and I just kind of shake it off and move on.

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Speaker 1: But I do always appreciate you guys that bring kindness

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Speaker 1: and respect, because that's always the stuff that just keeps

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Speaker 1: me going. So I sincerely appreciate it. So the Warriors

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Speaker 1: heading into a tough little road trip here right the

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Speaker 1: playing the celt tonight. Super excited to watch that game.

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Speaker 1: They played the Calves, I believe and then who's the

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Speaker 1: third team? Is that the Knicks, I think, But they're

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Speaker 1: playing a couple of really tough road games at this

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Speaker 1: point in the season. And I was actually talking about

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Speaker 1: this with the Nerds the other day at Thunder. So

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Speaker 1: it's at Celtics at Calves at Thunder than home for

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Speaker 1: the MAVs. So I was talking about this with the

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Speaker 1: Nerds on Wednesday. But like, I'm specifically really excited to

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Speaker 1: watch their defense. So, like, we all know that the

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Speaker 1: ceiling of the Warriors comes down to whether or not

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Speaker 1: Steph can get back to a top ten, top five

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Speaker 1: type of level, right, and who is their secondary shot creator,

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Speaker 1: whether that's in house, like oh, suddenly Buddy Healed after

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Speaker 1: six hundred games as a pro becomes an all star

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Speaker 1: level shot creator, that that's our guy, or maybe Andrew

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Speaker 1: Wiggins has a kind of a renaissance to what he

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Speaker 1: was in twenty twenty two, right, like, or it's a

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Speaker 1: trade that where they bring in a high powered star, right,

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Speaker 1: whatever that is. We know that the ceiling of the

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Speaker 1: Warriors is going to come down to Steph returning to

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Speaker 1: superstar form, like super duper star form, and who's their

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Speaker 1: number two, right, that's their ceiling, and I don't think

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Speaker 1: we're gonna know that for a while. I don't expect

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Speaker 1: Steph to play like the best player in the world

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Speaker 1: tonight against Boston. I mean, maybe he will, but like

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Speaker 1: I shouldn't even say against Boston in the next four

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Speaker 1: game stretch, I don't expect Steph to just play like

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Speaker 1: the best player in the world. He's just coming back

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Speaker 1: from an injury. He played on a minute restriction in

429
00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:18,640
Speaker 1: their last game. It would be absurd to expect him

430
00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:20,639
Speaker 1: to go into these next four games and average thirty

431
00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:22,639
Speaker 1: five points a game on seventy percent from shooting and

432
00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:25,000
Speaker 1: just light the world on fire. Right, But I do

433
00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:27,520
Speaker 1: think it's realistic that by the end of the season,

434
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:31,399
Speaker 1: at some time between now and the end of the season,

435
00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:33,480
Speaker 1: after getting a bunch of games under his belt, when

436
00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:35,720
Speaker 1: he gets into game shape and he's consistently playing thirty

437
00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:38,240
Speaker 1: five minutes tonight, I think there's a chance that Steph

438
00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,120
Speaker 1: could get back to that level. But we're probably not

439
00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:44,440
Speaker 1: going to see it in these specific games tonight, right

440
00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:47,359
Speaker 1: in this next week. So what can we learn in

441
00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:50,399
Speaker 1: the next couple of games for the Warriors? How legit

442
00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:53,400
Speaker 1: is this defense? What can this defense do. I talked

443
00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:55,520
Speaker 1: about it with the Nerds. We argued about who is

444
00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,359
Speaker 1: more likely to be a championship threat. The Cavs are

445
00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:00,960
Speaker 1: the Warriors, and even though the ca have more talent,

446
00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:04,240
Speaker 1: the reason why I picked the Warriors is the Warriors

447
00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:07,000
Speaker 1: are super fast on the perimeter and can contain the

448
00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:11,000
Speaker 1: ball pretty well. The Cavs still have some big entry points, right.

449
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:13,280
Speaker 1: They still have some guys in their life, like Darius

450
00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:16,920
Speaker 1: Garland and Donovan Mitchell is still a generally weak defensive backcourt, right,

451
00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:18,840
Speaker 1: Like you're whoever it is that they have at the three.

452
00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:20,680
Speaker 1: There are guys that they can look to attack there.

453
00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:23,360
Speaker 1: You know, Jared Allen's very good defensive anchor, but can

454
00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:26,919
Speaker 1: he defend in space the way that Draymond Green can know? Right? So,

455
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,040
Speaker 1: Like there's a lot of like things with Cleveland where

456
00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:32,199
Speaker 1: I'm like, Okay, they're great, they're interesting, they're gonna be uh,

457
00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:33,760
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about them in a little bit, But like,

458
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:35,879
Speaker 1: do I think they can guard the Celtics, Like I

459
00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:39,000
Speaker 1: don't know, right, Whereas Golden State they can put out

460
00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:42,879
Speaker 1: lineups where it's like here's Andrew Wiggins, Here's you know,

461
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:47,600
Speaker 1: Brandon Pajemski, and Dean Anthony Melton with Draymond Green, and

462
00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:52,320
Speaker 1: they're going to switch everything and fly around and contain

463
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:54,919
Speaker 1: the ball. And like, that's the part that I'm looking at,

464
00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:59,159
Speaker 1: is like, can the Warriors defense really slow down the

465
00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:02,760
Speaker 1: Celtics offense? Can it really slow down the Thunder offense.

466
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,000
Speaker 1: Those are the things that I'm looking at as areas

467
00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:08,439
Speaker 1: for Golden State to show real potential, because again, the

468
00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:11,280
Speaker 1: offensive end, like if you get if you get a

469
00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:13,240
Speaker 1: couple of thirty point games out of step against the

470
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:15,720
Speaker 1: Celtics and the Thunder, you're getting away with Murder because

471
00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:17,760
Speaker 1: he's just coming back from an injury. He's easing his

472
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,680
Speaker 1: way back into the game. So like I'm less worried

473
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:23,680
Speaker 1: about the offensive end, I'm more worried. I'm more interested

474
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:27,879
Speaker 1: in can the Warriors defense cause any real problems for

475
00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:30,359
Speaker 1: the Celtics offense and for the Thunder offense. Those are

476
00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:32,480
Speaker 1: the things that I'm going to be looking very closely

477
00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:34,960
Speaker 1: at with the Warriors over the course of the next week.

478
00:22:46,080 --> 00:22:48,400
Speaker 1: Should the MAVs stick with this starting five or should

479
00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,560
Speaker 1: they try Clay on the bench for more defense in

480
00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:53,639
Speaker 1: the starting lineup. I think they should keep play with

481
00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:55,520
Speaker 1: the starters I don't think there's anybody on the bench

482
00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:59,000
Speaker 1: that actually is like a truly deserving starting caliber player

483
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:02,119
Speaker 1: to slide into that spot. Also, I still think the

484
00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:05,399
Speaker 1: MAVs have their issues. They're slow on the perimeter. They

485
00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:08,359
Speaker 1: they're like the Pacers game is a perfect examble. They

486
00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:10,440
Speaker 1: kind of just got run around, right, Like they just

487
00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:12,880
Speaker 1: ran circles around them all night. But they're still top

488
00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:15,359
Speaker 1: ten defense. They have a very high defensive floor. Why

489
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:18,280
Speaker 1: because they have lots of rim protection. Right. Rim protection

490
00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:21,040
Speaker 1: is a is a basic concept that gives you a

491
00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:25,679
Speaker 1: high defensive floor. They're playing forty eight minutes plus of legitimate,

492
00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:28,959
Speaker 1: like defensive talent in the front court. So like they

493
00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:30,840
Speaker 1: have a really high floor. So my thing is like

494
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:33,960
Speaker 1: lean into Kyrie, Clay and Luca and just try to

495
00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:37,639
Speaker 1: be the best offensive team that you can within that concept.

496
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:40,440
Speaker 1: I don't think there's a version of this MAVs team

497
00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:44,200
Speaker 1: that is like this incredibly stifling perimeter defense. Anyway, I

498
00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:46,359
Speaker 1: talked about this with the nerds the other day, but

499
00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:49,200
Speaker 1: like I think if you were ranking the fastest perimeter

500
00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:52,639
Speaker 1: players on the team in terms of like real wing athletes,

501
00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:55,120
Speaker 1: like Derek Jones was number one, and like you're probably

502
00:23:55,119 --> 00:23:57,639
Speaker 1: putting a guy like Josh Green was really fast. Josh

503
00:23:57,640 --> 00:23:59,360
Speaker 1: Green had speed, right, So this is not the same

504
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,080
Speaker 1: type of raw us. So I would lean into them

505
00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:04,439
Speaker 1: being a big front line that can defend and protect

506
00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:07,040
Speaker 1: the rim, and just being the best possible offense that

507
00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:09,520
Speaker 1: you can possibly be, which will come in time as

508
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:11,560
Speaker 1: you learn how to incorporate Clay, as you learn how

509
00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,480
Speaker 1: to incorporate all this additional ball handling, as Luca gets

510
00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:17,320
Speaker 1: back into shape and reaches the form of Luca that

511
00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:19,560
Speaker 1: we all know that he's capable of being. So I

512
00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:22,800
Speaker 1: would not tweak the starting lineup, at least not on

513
00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:24,680
Speaker 1: the perimeter. I mean, we could all talk about whether

514
00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:26,800
Speaker 1: or not Lively should start over Gafford in the big picture,

515
00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,120
Speaker 1: but that's a different debate. I would not move Clay

516
00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:32,520
Speaker 1: to the bench. Why does nobody in the NBA media

517
00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:35,639
Speaker 1: remember what happened in May? By the time October comes,

518
00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:38,040
Speaker 1: everyone thinks the Cavs are a top three team When

519
00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:40,520
Speaker 1: they started last season nine to one, then got throttled

520
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:44,280
Speaker 1: by physicality in the playoffs, same team, same small backcourt,

521
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,600
Speaker 1: can kun by the second week of May, so they

522
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:49,960
Speaker 1: are a different team in several different ways. Because of

523
00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:52,879
Speaker 1: the way they're playing. They're playing substantially faster than they

524
00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,439
Speaker 1: did last year. They're doing a lot more switching on defense,

525
00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:57,720
Speaker 1: which is allowing them to force more turnovers, which is

526
00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:00,320
Speaker 1: allowing them to get out and transition even more. And

527
00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:03,480
Speaker 1: they've tweaked their offense approach considerably with the increased usage

528
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:05,560
Speaker 1: of Evan Mobley, who's doing a lot more work on

529
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:07,760
Speaker 1: the ball, running inverted ball screens, looking to drive, looking

530
00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,520
Speaker 1: to shoot more. They're they're different in some of those ways. However,

531
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:13,680
Speaker 1: I agree that the roster in and of itself kind

532
00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:16,320
Speaker 1: of is what it is. And my specific issue with

533
00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:19,280
Speaker 1: the Cavs is they don't match up well with Boston

534
00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,280
Speaker 1: and their ability to really spread them out and the

535
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,240
Speaker 1: ability to guard Cleveland's guards and make life difficult on

536
00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:28,280
Speaker 1: them and to wear them down, and so like I

537
00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:32,600
Speaker 1: agree that I'll be surprised if they're, you know, still

538
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:35,560
Speaker 1: playing basketball in late May. But at the same time,

539
00:25:35,600 --> 00:25:38,480
Speaker 1: guys like I think it's completely fair and reasonable for

540
00:25:38,560 --> 00:25:41,720
Speaker 1: us to I think it's completely fair and reasonable for

541
00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:44,119
Speaker 1: us to acknowledge when teams are playing really well to

542
00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:47,080
Speaker 1: start the season. NBA history tells us that championship teams

543
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:49,760
Speaker 1: do attack the season from start to finish. We also

544
00:25:49,800 --> 00:25:51,359
Speaker 1: never know what can happen in the long run, Like,

545
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:54,840
Speaker 1: guys like sometimes, but like what if Evan Mobley just

546
00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:57,240
Speaker 1: continues to develop him by the end of the season,

547
00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:00,840
Speaker 1: he's a sixty percent through shooting twenty plus point per game, right, Like,

548
00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:02,359
Speaker 1: we don't know how this is going to go in

549
00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,240
Speaker 1: the big picture. And so again, like we're just watching trends.

550
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:07,000
Speaker 1: And as I said at the end of our last

551
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:09,119
Speaker 1: mail bag, you know, I had a question that was

552
00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:10,960
Speaker 1: like why, like why do we always pretend like the

553
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,199
Speaker 1: regular season matters when it doesn't. It's like, guys, this

554
00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:16,880
Speaker 1: is the job, Like the NBA media that you're referencing,

555
00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:18,960
Speaker 1: their job is to watch their early season games and

556
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:21,320
Speaker 1: have an opinion. It'd be pretty boring if we all

557
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:23,440
Speaker 1: just came on here every day and we were like, yeah,

558
00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:25,400
Speaker 1: none of this matters, see you guys in April, right

559
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:27,399
Speaker 1: like that, there's no fun in that. The fun is

560
00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:29,720
Speaker 1: let's try to learn about these teams. And so when

561
00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:32,520
Speaker 1: a Calves team starts seven to zero, let's talk about

562
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,320
Speaker 1: what they're doing differently, let's talk about what they're good at.

563
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:37,160
Speaker 1: And yeah, like I'm not about to move them into

564
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:39,440
Speaker 1: my top tier of contenders. I actually dropped two teams

565
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:41,280
Speaker 1: off my top tier of contenders in the Nerd SATs

566
00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:44,360
Speaker 1: Show on Wednesday, Like, I'm going to wait to get

567
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:47,040
Speaker 1: more data before i make any sort of big sweeping

568
00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:49,080
Speaker 1: declaration about the Calves, but I think it's okay for

569
00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:51,080
Speaker 1: us to acknowledge that they're off to a really good start.

570
00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,000
Speaker 1: Has the NBA game leaned too heavily into an offense

571
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:57,040
Speaker 1: oriented basketball game emphasis on the three ball? And if so,

572
00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:59,560
Speaker 1: are there any changes you would make for defenses so

573
00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:03,480
Speaker 1: we can see balanced game slash product that mimics the playoffs.

574
00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:06,119
Speaker 1: So there's been this whole debate around the idea of

575
00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:08,120
Speaker 1: three point shooting. I've talked about it a little bit

576
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:11,920
Speaker 1: on the show. My main kind of point of view

577
00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:15,320
Speaker 1: is essentially that like, it doesn't really matter what the

578
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:18,560
Speaker 1: final shot is, it matters the quality of the basketball. So,

579
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:21,080
Speaker 1: for instance, Boston takes a ton of threes. I do

580
00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:23,560
Speaker 1: enjoy watching Boston because they play a really fun brand

581
00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:25,720
Speaker 1: of drive and kick basketball. There are a lot of

582
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:27,879
Speaker 1: teams out there that just shoot bad threes for the

583
00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:29,720
Speaker 1: sake of getting their three point volume up, and that

584
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:32,440
Speaker 1: is ugly right. There are teams that don't take any

585
00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:35,400
Speaker 1: threes where it's pretty right. There are teams that don't

586
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:37,560
Speaker 1: take many threes where it can get ugly sometimes too.

587
00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:39,520
Speaker 1: It all just depends on whether or not you're playing

588
00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:42,719
Speaker 1: quality basketball. Now. As far as like the leaning too

589
00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:44,480
Speaker 1: much on the offensive end of the floor, I am

590
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:47,200
Speaker 1: of the opinion that with how spread out the floor

591
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,360
Speaker 1: has got, with how talented and skilled these offensive players are,

592
00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:52,880
Speaker 1: I do think we need to give defensive players more

593
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:56,399
Speaker 1: leeway to be more physical and dribble drive situations. So

594
00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:58,840
Speaker 1: like some of these calls where like a dude is

595
00:27:59,400 --> 00:28:01,879
Speaker 1: very slight out of position and there's a slight bump

596
00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:04,000
Speaker 1: and we end up getting a foul call, I disagree

597
00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:06,280
Speaker 1: with that. Some of the hand checking and physicality I

598
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:09,360
Speaker 1: wish they would let go a little bit more frequently.

599
00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:11,960
Speaker 1: By the way, none of this stuff is like by

600
00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:14,360
Speaker 1: the rule book. Hand checking happens on every single possession

601
00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:16,560
Speaker 1: that goes uncalled. It's just a question of like how

602
00:28:16,600 --> 00:28:20,560
Speaker 1: often it does get called. But like I'm just saying,

603
00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:23,600
Speaker 1: within that realm of discretion, I would allow more physicality

604
00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:25,800
Speaker 1: from the defensive player because I think it would allow

605
00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:28,240
Speaker 1: them to contain drives more and just give the defensive

606
00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:30,679
Speaker 1: fighting chance. There are way too many games that just

607
00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,480
Speaker 1: turn into like neither defense can guard the other, and

608
00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:37,439
Speaker 1: that I think becomes ugly basketball pretty quickly. Do you

609
00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:40,720
Speaker 1: have an issue with Wemby's shot distribution so far? Eight

610
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:42,880
Speaker 1: point seven to two point attempts at fifty nine percent,

611
00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:45,720
Speaker 1: seven point one three point attempts at twenty two percent.

612
00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:47,960
Speaker 1: Seems hard for him to get opportunities closer to the basket.

613
00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:50,480
Speaker 1: His teams have been sticking smaller stout guys on him

614
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:52,480
Speaker 1: that he can't eat with a live dribble. What would

615
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,200
Speaker 1: you change? So this is actually a very similar concept

616
00:28:55,240 --> 00:28:56,880
Speaker 1: to something we talked about on the show earlier this

617
00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:59,920
Speaker 1: last week. But this is a team that basically every

618
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:02,400
Speaker 1: uh This is a strategy that basically every team in

619
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:04,360
Speaker 1: the league has been deploying against Wemby, which is like

620
00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:06,280
Speaker 1: guard him with the wing right. We just saw with

621
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:08,080
Speaker 1: the thunder right, it was like Steady died of, like

622
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,440
Speaker 1: Jalen Williams guarding him, Alex Crusoe guarding him, like just

623
00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:15,160
Speaker 1: guarding him with small, stout guys that can get up

624
00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:17,280
Speaker 1: underneath him because they can beat him to spots and

625
00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:20,400
Speaker 1: prevent him from driving. I uh, a couple of different

626
00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:23,080
Speaker 1: things as far as the three point shot goes. I

627
00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:25,800
Speaker 1: think I said the same thing about Anthony Edwards, Like

628
00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:28,080
Speaker 1: I don't care if ant's taking, you know, eleven, twelve,

629
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:30,600
Speaker 1: thirteen three point shots a game if he's making forty

630
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:34,320
Speaker 1: four forty five percent of them, right, Like, that's a

631
00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:37,160
Speaker 1: debate that you have if he starts missing a lot.

632
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:39,480
Speaker 1: Like if we fast forward a couple months and he's

633
00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:41,920
Speaker 1: still at twelve attempts a game, but he's shooting thirty

634
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:44,040
Speaker 1: six percent on threes, and yeah, we probably should have

635
00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:45,719
Speaker 1: a conversation about how he should cut that number from

636
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:48,480
Speaker 1: twelve down to eight, right. Same thing goes with Wemby,

637
00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:51,320
Speaker 1: Like he's shooting really poorly seven attempts a game, twenty

638
00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:54,480
Speaker 1: two percent. It's not good. But I also like it's

639
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:57,400
Speaker 1: November sixth guys, Like I would say, like, if we

640
00:29:57,440 --> 00:29:59,600
Speaker 1: get to December and he's still taking seven threes a

641
00:29:59,600 --> 00:30:01,680
Speaker 1: game and his percentage is still in the low twenties,

642
00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:03,640
Speaker 1: then there's a conversation to be had. But if he

643
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:05,640
Speaker 1: wants to try to build that out, I respect it.

644
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:09,840
Speaker 1: I think like it's scary to think about what Wenby

645
00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:11,959
Speaker 1: could be like if he was a high volume, efficient

646
00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:14,240
Speaker 1: three point shooter in addition to whatever whatever else he

647
00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:17,880
Speaker 1: does as far as like handling the smaller stout defenders,

648
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:20,720
Speaker 1: that to me is on his own individual skill development.

649
00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:23,160
Speaker 1: I talked a lot in our last discussion about this

650
00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:25,600
Speaker 1: about Dirk Mimitski and the work he did one fighting

651
00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:28,600
Speaker 1: for position, two being really tight with the basketball, not

652
00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:31,160
Speaker 1: exposing it so guys couldn't swipe it away, and then

653
00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 1: three being able to get to his shooting pocket efficiently

654
00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:38,080
Speaker 1: from a kind of like strong tucked position so that

655
00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:40,000
Speaker 1: he can deal with ball pressure and shoot over the

656
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,840
Speaker 1: top relatively easily. Dirk was also really good at like

657
00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:45,680
Speaker 1: leveraging shoulder angles for quick spinoffs and rip throughs and

658
00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 1: stuff like that to get triple penetration. Dealing with the

659
00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:53,320
Speaker 1: defenders he's dealing with. That is all about the That

660
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:57,160
Speaker 1: is all about the individual development of Victor wemban Yama.

661
00:30:57,280 --> 00:30:59,000
Speaker 1: Part of it, too, is like if they're gonna if

662
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:02,320
Speaker 1: teams are going to put a a wing on Victor,

663
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:05,320
Speaker 1: they're probably going to put their center on Jeremy Sohan. Right,

664
00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:07,240
Speaker 1: Jeremy zhn is a thumb injury is gonna be out

665
00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:10,040
Speaker 1: for a little bit, but like you got to put

666
00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:13,040
Speaker 1: together lineup groupings where teams can't afford to put their

667
00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:17,360
Speaker 1: center on someone else that's on the front office. Right

668
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:20,000
Speaker 1: in terms of action, it's tough because like when they

669
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:21,960
Speaker 1: put a small on Victor, they're gonna switch ball screens

670
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:25,560
Speaker 1: and that's gonna make it tougher for you to to

671
00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:28,760
Speaker 1: actually like get Victor wemen Yama the role opportunities that

672
00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:30,760
Speaker 1: he wants. But like that's the truth is, like he's

673
00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:33,920
Speaker 1: if he's skinny and can guys can get up underneath

674
00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:35,600
Speaker 1: him and beat him to spots, it's gonna be difficult

675
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:37,240
Speaker 1: for him to get dribble penetration. So a lot of

676
00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:40,200
Speaker 1: it's gonna come down to his own skill development. This

677
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:43,400
Speaker 1: one's a personal one. Was the transition from hooping professionally

678
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:46,240
Speaker 1: overseas to coaching slash talking hoops hard. What was the

679
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:48,640
Speaker 1: most difficult adjustment to it? So, first of all, I

680
00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:52,400
Speaker 1: technically never actually made it overseas to hoop. I tried to,

681
00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:55,200
Speaker 1: and I signed a deal with a league called the Uba,

682
00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:58,000
Speaker 1: which was in India, and they paid me for I

683
00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:01,200
Speaker 1: think two weeks of work, and then the league folded

684
00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:04,200
Speaker 1: because of some sort of like international incident involving the

685
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:07,760
Speaker 1: Indian players. I don't I don't remember some of the details,

686
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:11,200
Speaker 1: but at that point I made a personal decision. At

687
00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:14,000
Speaker 1: that point, my you know, I had a wife and

688
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:17,800
Speaker 1: two dogs, and we owned a home and we were

689
00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:20,840
Speaker 1: very established in Tucson. My wife works for a local

690
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:23,400
Speaker 1: business here in town. So like, it just got to

691
00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:25,320
Speaker 1: the point where I was like, you know what, I'm

692
00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:27,880
Speaker 1: just going to focus on moving on with my life.

693
00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:29,400
Speaker 1: And that's when I got into real estate. And I

694
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:32,200
Speaker 1: use real estate as like the flexible job with which

695
00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:36,840
Speaker 1: I could pursue sports media. But I played in college

696
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:40,440
Speaker 1: and obviously, as you know, I was at least trying

697
00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:44,240
Speaker 1: to play overseas, right so the you know, it was interesting.

698
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:45,920
Speaker 1: I was actually thinking about this the other day when

699
00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:49,520
Speaker 1: there was a question asked to Kevin Durant about his

700
00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:51,840
Speaker 1: role in that Starting five show and why he wanted

701
00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:53,080
Speaker 1: to do it, and he talked about how he wanted

702
00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:55,600
Speaker 1: to do it because he wanted young basketball players to

703
00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:57,680
Speaker 1: see the pros and cons of playing in the NBA.

704
00:32:58,040 --> 00:32:59,880
Speaker 1: And I thought it was really fascinating when he said that,

705
00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:05,560
Speaker 1: because the hardest adjustment for me, by far going from

706
00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:10,720
Speaker 1: playing in college and playing against pros, because like during

707
00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:13,440
Speaker 1: that time, I was like working out with and working

708
00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:15,720
Speaker 1: against pros all the time, And still to this day,

709
00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:18,080
Speaker 1: when the pros come back into town, I work out

710
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:20,040
Speaker 1: with them. When the all the college players come back

711
00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:21,959
Speaker 1: into town in the summer, I work out with them.

712
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,120
Speaker 1: So those are the opportunities I get to still play

713
00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,880
Speaker 1: with those players. But like, going from that to playing

714
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:33,200
Speaker 1: pick up basketball is an incredibly frustrating experience in terms

715
00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:38,480
Speaker 1: of like the competitive engagement. So like, very rarely now

716
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:42,000
Speaker 1: do I find myself in a basketball game where like

717
00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:46,880
Speaker 1: I'm really feeling the adrenaline in the challenge of the moment,

718
00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:50,160
Speaker 1: where I feel like I'm going against other really high

719
00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:54,280
Speaker 1: level players. The game has a certain level of competence

720
00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:56,520
Speaker 1: in terms of like people knowing how to play at

721
00:33:56,560 --> 00:33:59,840
Speaker 1: a high level, and I really like get to get

722
00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:04,080
Speaker 1: my competitive basketball juice is flowing. It happens very rarely now.

723
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:08,919
Speaker 1: The occasional men's league game. I play in a league

724
00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:11,080
Speaker 1: here in Tucson where there are a handful of really

725
00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 1: good teams and there's the occasional game there where I

726
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:17,279
Speaker 1: get the competitive urge. Money tournaments. I play in about

727
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:20,480
Speaker 1: two of those a year, I get those kind of

728
00:34:20,520 --> 00:34:24,400
Speaker 1: like competitive juices flowing. Then over the summer when the

729
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:26,960
Speaker 1: college and pro kids come back and we play a

730
00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:31,400
Speaker 1: little bit of a pickup in the summer, there are moments,

731
00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:34,040
Speaker 1: but the vast majority of the time I go to

732
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,520
Speaker 1: play basketball, I feel very unfulfilled because I'm playing against

733
00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:41,840
Speaker 1: like I'm just not playing against super good competition, and

734
00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:44,959
Speaker 1: so it breeds laziness and me because I'm not really

735
00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:49,120
Speaker 1: playing all that hard. By far, the most frustrating part is,

736
00:34:49,160 --> 00:34:50,959
Speaker 1: like you, guys, those of you, guys who have played

737
00:34:50,960 --> 00:34:53,839
Speaker 1: basketball at any real level, will know, like there's a

738
00:34:54,080 --> 00:34:56,680
Speaker 1: flow that is supposed to take place in a basketball

739
00:34:56,680 --> 00:34:59,319
Speaker 1: game when everybody knows what they're doing, meaning like guys

740
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:01,920
Speaker 1: who whenever everyone knows like when to cut, when to screen,

741
00:35:02,239 --> 00:35:05,759
Speaker 1: when to throw an extra swing pass, when to relocate

742
00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:08,600
Speaker 1: when the spacing is off, how to do basic things

743
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:12,319
Speaker 1: on defense, how to do basic things in transition when

744
00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:15,080
Speaker 1: you are playing with a group of players like a

745
00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:18,279
Speaker 1: pickup game and there's four or five dudes on the

746
00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:20,880
Speaker 1: floor that like don't know how to play it like

747
00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:24,800
Speaker 1: dips below a certain It dips below like a certain

748
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:29,120
Speaker 1: like mandatory minimum amount of understanding of the game, and

749
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:31,600
Speaker 1: then the game turns into shit and I end up

750
00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:34,080
Speaker 1: I end up being like I leave straight up depressed

751
00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:37,640
Speaker 1: sometimes from those types of games, But thankfully I get

752
00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:40,759
Speaker 1: I get enough good basketball days a year where I

753
00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:43,640
Speaker 1: still I still my love for the game is still engaged,

754
00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:48,480
Speaker 1: and I still feel challenged. Just on Sunday, a buddy

755
00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:53,000
Speaker 1: of mine, Daniel Kanorke, who is, in my opinion, the

756
00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,760
Speaker 1: best player that I've ever played against in the Tucson

757
00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:58,279
Speaker 1: area of all of the players that I've run into

758
00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:00,400
Speaker 1: over the years who are like kind of local guys,

759
00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:03,040
Speaker 1: He's like, he's a very good friend of mine. Have

760
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:05,279
Speaker 1: also comp competed with him a lot. I've played in

761
00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:08,520
Speaker 1: money tournaments with him, but like every time him and

762
00:36:08,560 --> 00:36:11,600
Speaker 1: I go against each other, it just brings me back

763
00:36:11,640 --> 00:36:14,560
Speaker 1: to that level. And so like I left Sunday feeling

764
00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:17,799
Speaker 1: very thankful that I still get to have moments like

765
00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:20,279
Speaker 1: that when I play. When I play the game, but

766
00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:23,080
Speaker 1: like that is by far the hardest part of the

767
00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:26,560
Speaker 1: transition going from playing at any sort of real level

768
00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:30,440
Speaker 1: in basketball to the post basketball life. Is you still

769
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:32,719
Speaker 1: love the game, you still want to play, You're still

770
00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:35,040
Speaker 1: super competitive. A guy like me, I'm still thirty three.

771
00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:36,680
Speaker 1: I'm a better player now than I ever have been

772
00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:39,640
Speaker 1: in my entire life. I'm many times better at basketball

773
00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:42,440
Speaker 1: now than I was when I was playing in college.

774
00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:44,920
Speaker 1: And it just feels like a waste. It just feels

775
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:47,560
Speaker 1: it just feels useless, right, and so like that's the

776
00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:49,960
Speaker 1: part that gets frustrating. But there's a flip side to that,

777
00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:51,719
Speaker 1: And this is the interesting part that I was thinking

778
00:36:51,719 --> 00:36:53,719
Speaker 1: about with Kevin Durant. So like, when I look back

779
00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:58,239
Speaker 1: at my college career, like, yes, I was competitively engaged.

780
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,239
Speaker 1: Yes I was challenged. Yes there was a lot of

781
00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:06,000
Speaker 1: upside in that department. But let's be clear, it is

782
00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:12,839
Speaker 1: not the same as playing truly care free basketball. When

783
00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:17,440
Speaker 1: I was in Juco. I remember my second year, I

784
00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:19,440
Speaker 1: was one of only two players on the roster that

785
00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:22,080
Speaker 1: got a full ride scholarship, meaning they paid for my lodging,

786
00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:23,840
Speaker 1: they paid for my books, they paid for my tuition,

787
00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:26,000
Speaker 1: they paid for all my meals. Like I got the

788
00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:29,040
Speaker 1: full deal. Right in Juco, that's somewhat rare, and there

789
00:37:29,080 --> 00:37:30,520
Speaker 1: was only two guys on the team that got it.

790
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:34,680
Speaker 1: But I went to that school coming off of a

791
00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:38,160
Speaker 1: foot injury that happened over the summer and when I

792
00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:39,560
Speaker 1: had the foot injury, I put on a bunch of

793
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:42,320
Speaker 1: weight in muscle because I just lifted weights all summer

794
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:47,400
Speaker 1: to try to be useful and productive while I was

795
00:37:47,719 --> 00:37:50,160
Speaker 1: while I was injured. And so when I showed up

796
00:37:50,200 --> 00:37:52,320
Speaker 1: to the school, I was a little heavier, it was

797
00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:54,879
Speaker 1: a little slower, and I was still working my way

798
00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:58,520
Speaker 1: back into basketball shape. And I one of the big

799
00:37:58,520 --> 00:38:01,480
Speaker 1: things was like I didn't trust my foot, so like,

800
00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:04,080
Speaker 1: even though it was healthy, I didn't like really trust

801
00:38:04,120 --> 00:38:06,360
Speaker 1: it to plant. And at that time I was playing

802
00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:08,239
Speaker 1: around two hundred and twenty five pounds. I was like

803
00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:10,440
Speaker 1: a big, heavy dude. So like, if I didn't if

804
00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:13,680
Speaker 1: I didn't feel comfortable planting my foot, like I just

805
00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:16,759
Speaker 1: wasn't the athlete that I needed to be. And so

806
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:19,040
Speaker 1: I really struggled at the start of the season. And

807
00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:22,360
Speaker 1: there was a there was a two game stretch in

808
00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:26,680
Speaker 1: the first like five games of non conference play where

809
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:29,520
Speaker 1: after a bad game, I got called into the coach's

810
00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:33,919
Speaker 1: office and the coach was this Brazilian dude, total hard

811
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:35,319
Speaker 1: ass in a good way, like it just he just

812
00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:37,680
Speaker 1: was a tough dude, but he was a no nonsense

813
00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:41,080
Speaker 1: kind of guy, and he was like, what the heck

814
00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:44,239
Speaker 1: man gave you a full ride scholarship and you're not

815
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:46,880
Speaker 1: doing shit for me. Like now, he was more delicate

816
00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:49,160
Speaker 1: about it, but like that was basically what he said.

817
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:53,279
Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, like and by the way,

818
00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:56,040
Speaker 1: he benched me for didn't bench me completely, but took

819
00:38:56,040 --> 00:38:58,439
Speaker 1: me out of the starting lineup for two games as

820
00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:00,560
Speaker 1: like a as like an attempt to try to like

821
00:39:00,719 --> 00:39:04,360
Speaker 1: wake me up and get me going. And it was

822
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:09,080
Speaker 1: so interesting because like everything was fine, Like I eventually

823
00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:11,359
Speaker 1: just got my legs back underneath me, and that ended

824
00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:13,680
Speaker 1: up actually being my best season in college and I

825
00:39:13,719 --> 00:39:15,920
Speaker 1: ended up making the all conference team when we got

826
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:20,640
Speaker 1: to conference play. But like after that, after that meeting,

827
00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:24,560
Speaker 1: every day I went to practice, I felt pressure and stress.

828
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:27,080
Speaker 1: Every time I was in the game and I was

829
00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:31,040
Speaker 1: taking a shot, I felt pressure and stress, right, because

830
00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:37,200
Speaker 1: like there's responsibility, there's expectation that comes from this coaching

831
00:39:37,239 --> 00:39:41,560
Speaker 1: staff decided to invest some of their hard they're hard

832
00:39:41,600 --> 00:39:45,319
Speaker 1: to find scholarship funds on me, right, and so like

833
00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:48,440
Speaker 1: I felt pressure, I felt expectation. The year after that,

834
00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:52,439
Speaker 1: I went from being a consistent double figure scorer type

835
00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:56,359
Speaker 1: of guy in Juco to playing at an AIA team

836
00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:59,719
Speaker 1: that had really good guards, like all American guards, and

837
00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:02,719
Speaker 1: they just needed me to defend and to rebound and

838
00:40:02,760 --> 00:40:05,600
Speaker 1: to take wide open corner threes. And so my role

839
00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:09,560
Speaker 1: completely changed again. And when that happened, it was a challenge.

840
00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:12,680
Speaker 1: I remember, like in the early part of the season,

841
00:40:12,760 --> 00:40:15,240
Speaker 1: like every day going to practice and going to games,

842
00:40:15,280 --> 00:40:16,960
Speaker 1: like how what am I supposed to do? What am

843
00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:18,600
Speaker 1: I not supposed to do? I was getting called into

844
00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:21,160
Speaker 1: the coach's office to get to talk about like what

845
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:23,319
Speaker 1: shots they wanted me to take versus what shots they

846
00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:26,040
Speaker 1: didn't want me to take, because obviously in Juco, I

847
00:40:26,080 --> 00:40:27,560
Speaker 1: was more of a scorer, so I needed to have

848
00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:30,839
Speaker 1: like my shot diet like kind of reconfigured around more

849
00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:35,239
Speaker 1: of like a role player type of role. And it

850
00:40:35,400 --> 00:40:38,319
Speaker 1: was there were dark times, like there were times when

851
00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:42,160
Speaker 1: like when I when I wasn't playing well where it

852
00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:45,600
Speaker 1: was frustrating, right, and like that that's kind of like

853
00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:49,279
Speaker 1: the point that I'm getting at. I vividly remember when

854
00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:52,560
Speaker 1: I was done playing in college and I came home.

855
00:40:54,120 --> 00:40:58,680
Speaker 1: I remember going to play pick up and feeling free,

856
00:40:59,880 --> 00:41:03,360
Speaker 1: like feeling this like the pressure had disappeared and the

857
00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:07,760
Speaker 1: expectation had disappeared, and like if I decided to jog

858
00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:10,400
Speaker 1: back on defense on a specific possession, it wasn't the

859
00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:12,160
Speaker 1: end of the world. If I decided if I took

860
00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:13,960
Speaker 1: a bad shot every once in a while, it wasn't

861
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:15,520
Speaker 1: the end of the world. If I turned the ball over,

862
00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:17,520
Speaker 1: it wasn't the end of the world. And so for

863
00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:24,000
Speaker 1: the record, I loved playing in college and I love

864
00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:29,719
Speaker 1: pressure and expectation in basketball. It drives me competitively. I

865
00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:33,040
Speaker 1: would take that into a heartbeat, Okay, like I love

866
00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:36,280
Speaker 1: what I do for a living. If I was not married,

867
00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:39,320
Speaker 1: I would have tried more to play overseas, and I

868
00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:41,240
Speaker 1: would have tried to I would have been playing overseas

869
00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:43,479
Speaker 1: till I was forty. That's how much I love the game.

870
00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:48,160
Speaker 1: But I do think there's some legitimacy to the stuff

871
00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:51,279
Speaker 1: that Kevin Durant's talking about, where it's like basketball when

872
00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:55,520
Speaker 1: it's your job is different than basketball when it's just

873
00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:59,400
Speaker 1: for fun, And there is some reality to that, and

874
00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:01,480
Speaker 1: I do think it's fascinating. But like I said, the

875
00:42:01,480 --> 00:42:03,200
Speaker 1: flip side of that is, like I also have a

876
00:42:03,239 --> 00:42:05,840
Speaker 1: really hard time even though I don't have pressure, and

877
00:42:05,880 --> 00:42:07,359
Speaker 1: even though I get to have fun playing the game.

878
00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:09,600
Speaker 1: I want the way I want to play. It's just

879
00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:11,720
Speaker 1: really hard for me to find really good basketball players,

880
00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:13,640
Speaker 1: even in a city like Tucson that has over a

881
00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:16,440
Speaker 1: million people, And so it's just it's kind of interesting.

882
00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:19,439
Speaker 1: That's a very very long answer to your question there.

883
00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:21,640
Speaker 1: But it's not very often that I get to talk

884
00:42:21,680 --> 00:42:24,120
Speaker 1: about my personal relationship with the game. So I do

885
00:42:24,160 --> 00:42:26,560
Speaker 1: appreciate the question, and hopefully that answers what you were

886
00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:43,560
Speaker 1: specifically asking. How would you rank the current iteration of

887
00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:47,400
Speaker 1: the Clippers if they added Kuzma plus Kawhi getting healthy.

888
00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:49,520
Speaker 1: I think the middle of the pack in the Western

889
00:42:49,520 --> 00:42:52,799
Speaker 1: Conference is pretty mediocre. I shouldn't say mediocre because they're

890
00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:55,960
Speaker 1: all good teams, but mediocre with relation to each other.

891
00:42:56,360 --> 00:42:58,799
Speaker 1: And so if Kawhi can get healthy, I think this

892
00:42:58,880 --> 00:43:01,440
Speaker 1: current Clippers team was at center with James Harden as

893
00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:03,680
Speaker 1: the backup shot creator, with all of the depth of perimeter,

894
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:06,680
Speaker 1: speed and talent that they have, I think right now

895
00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:09,320
Speaker 1: they're just as good as anybody else in the Western Conference.

896
00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:12,160
Speaker 1: It's not Oklahoma City. As long as Kawhi Leonard can

897
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:14,760
Speaker 1: get healthy and get back to form, and so again

898
00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:18,440
Speaker 1: that's a big question mark surrounding Kawhi. An addition of

899
00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:21,319
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma would certainly be very interesting. It'd be kind

900
00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:24,360
Speaker 1: of like a lesser version of Karl Anthony Towns for

901
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:26,400
Speaker 1: this team, in the sense that he would function mostly

902
00:43:26,440 --> 00:43:28,600
Speaker 1: as an off ball scorer, not an on ball scorer.

903
00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:31,000
Speaker 1: But I think that there's real value there playing off

904
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:32,879
Speaker 1: of a guy like James Harden, someone who's like really

905
00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:36,440
Speaker 1: aggressive and spot up situations, both shooting threes and driving

906
00:43:36,480 --> 00:43:40,120
Speaker 1: closeouts and things like that. Hi, Jason, I've always wondered,

907
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:42,520
Speaker 1: what's the one thing that separates rotation players in garbage

908
00:43:42,520 --> 00:43:44,279
Speaker 1: time guys. Is it one single thing or can it

909
00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:46,239
Speaker 1: be multitude of things? This came to mind as Jalen

910
00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:49,040
Speaker 1: hu Chafino, who's barely played and probably won't get another opportunity.

911
00:43:49,520 --> 00:43:51,840
Speaker 1: So I think about this all the time. If you

912
00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:57,960
Speaker 1: are not incredible at doing things with the basketball, meaning

913
00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:01,040
Speaker 1: like creating shots for yourself and for others, then you

914
00:44:01,360 --> 00:44:04,880
Speaker 1: have to be incredible at everything else. And when I

915
00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:09,160
Speaker 1: say everything else, I mean all the little things defending

916
00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:12,520
Speaker 1: on the perimeter, defending off the ball, running your lane

917
00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:15,920
Speaker 1: and transition offense and transition defense, knowing what to do

918
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:17,840
Speaker 1: when you're off the ball in terms of spacing and

919
00:44:17,880 --> 00:44:20,960
Speaker 1: screening and things like that, being able to make a

920
00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:23,399
Speaker 1: wide open catch and shoot three, being able to make

921
00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:26,920
Speaker 1: a quick decision driving a close out, all of the

922
00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:30,120
Speaker 1: if you really break it down on with these NBA teams,

923
00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:31,640
Speaker 1: there are guys who run action and there are guys

924
00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:33,200
Speaker 1: who don't, and the majority of the guys on the

925
00:44:33,200 --> 00:44:36,279
Speaker 1: team don't run action, and so it does come down

926
00:44:36,280 --> 00:44:40,480
Speaker 1: to with those groups, like actually being able to succeed

927
00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:42,800
Speaker 1: in a small role by doing these small things that

928
00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:46,480
Speaker 1: help a team win basketball games. And so like rotation players,

929
00:44:47,040 --> 00:44:49,080
Speaker 1: I would just put I would just describe that as

930
00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:52,400
Speaker 1: any NBA player that is capable of like doing a

931
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:53,920
Speaker 1: little bit of guarding on the ball, a little bit

932
00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:55,799
Speaker 1: of guarding off the ball, a little bit of rebounding,

933
00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:57,360
Speaker 1: a little bit of spot up shooting, a little bit

934
00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:00,200
Speaker 1: of close out attacking like that, Like those are that

935
00:45:00,560 --> 00:45:03,160
Speaker 1: those guys that are just rock solid and all those

936
00:45:03,239 --> 00:45:06,440
Speaker 1: little things will have an easier time getting a foothold

937
00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:09,479
Speaker 1: in the NBA than a mediocre ball handler will, because

938
00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:12,240
Speaker 1: mediocre ball handler is a dime a dozen. Remember Alonzo

939
00:45:12,320 --> 00:45:14,480
Speaker 1: Trier that like everyone's like, oh, why is an Alonzo

940
00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:16,200
Speaker 1: Trier in the NBA. It's not because he's not a

941
00:45:16,200 --> 00:45:18,840
Speaker 1: good basketball player. He's a great basketball player, but Alonzo

942
00:45:18,920 --> 00:45:22,760
Speaker 1: Trier is a among the NBA ranks, a mediocre ball handler,

943
00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:25,520
Speaker 1: and so if he's not elite at the point of attack, defensively,

944
00:45:25,560 --> 00:45:28,759
Speaker 1: elite off the ball, defensively, elite rebounding, like then then

945
00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:32,160
Speaker 1: he's gonna have a hard time finding a foothold, right

946
00:45:33,160 --> 00:45:34,960
Speaker 1: But they're you know, like that, that's the thing, Like

947
00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:37,440
Speaker 1: there's they're gonna take a Quinton Grimes, a guy who's

948
00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:40,640
Speaker 1: maybe not as shifty, maybe not as as you know,

949
00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:44,160
Speaker 1: natural of a score, but that can still do a

950
00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:46,279
Speaker 1: lot of that shit. But that's a damn bulldog and

951
00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:48,319
Speaker 1: can guard the hell out of the basketball, right like that.

952
00:45:48,600 --> 00:45:52,680
Speaker 1: I've always found that sort of thing interesting. My take,

953
00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:54,520
Speaker 1: my hot take of the year was that Charlotte was

954
00:45:54,520 --> 00:45:55,799
Speaker 1: going to be better than the Heat. Can we get

955
00:45:55,800 --> 00:45:57,719
Speaker 1: your take on Charlotte if they can still complete for

956
00:45:57,719 --> 00:45:59,960
Speaker 1: a plan or if injuries in roster talent is not

957
00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:02,000
Speaker 1: there yet? So LaMelo has been awesome to start the

958
00:46:02,080 --> 00:46:04,440
Speaker 1: year twenty nine points, five rebounds, six assists, sixty one

959
00:46:04,520 --> 00:46:08,040
Speaker 1: percent for shooting. He's been a super efficient, super high

960
00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:10,480
Speaker 1: volume ball pick and role player. He's running like damn

961
00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:14,359
Speaker 1: near twenty ball screens a game, shooting the ball really

962
00:46:14,360 --> 00:46:18,400
Speaker 1: by shooting forty eight percent field goals out of ball screens.

963
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:20,839
Speaker 1: And then he's also getting one point three points per

964
00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:22,920
Speaker 1: pull up jump shot. He's been really gifted at finding

965
00:46:22,960 --> 00:46:25,600
Speaker 1: opportunities in angles to get three point shots off off

966
00:46:25,600 --> 00:46:28,319
Speaker 1: the bounce, and he's been making them. Trey Mann has

967
00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:30,080
Speaker 1: been hooping. He's become one of my favorite players to

968
00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:32,640
Speaker 1: watch in the league. They have six players averaging double figures.

969
00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:34,840
Speaker 1: The thing with Charlotte is their dead lasting defense and

970
00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:37,239
Speaker 1: their third to last in defensive rebounding. So if you

971
00:46:37,239 --> 00:46:38,920
Speaker 1: can't guard and you can't actually grab the ball when

972
00:46:38,920 --> 00:46:41,480
Speaker 1: they miss, like you're just putting yourself at a huge

973
00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:43,480
Speaker 1: disadvantage every single night. And that's why I don't think

974
00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:45,319
Speaker 1: the Hornets will make any noise in the playoffs at

975
00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:48,840
Speaker 1: this point, or I should say that they won't superseed

976
00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:52,520
Speaker 1: the Miami Heat four quick ones or three quick ones

977
00:46:52,560 --> 00:46:54,319
Speaker 1: and then a longer one. Hi, Jason, do you think

978
00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:56,160
Speaker 1: that the chances are that the Bucks blow up this

979
00:46:56,160 --> 00:46:57,959
Speaker 1: team by the trade deadline? I know it's very early

980
00:46:57,960 --> 00:46:59,560
Speaker 1: in the season. But even if they turn it around,

981
00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:01,680
Speaker 1: I just don't see the Bucks being a real contender

982
00:47:01,719 --> 00:47:04,120
Speaker 1: with this roster and coaching staff. I think it's a

983
00:47:04,200 --> 00:47:05,840
Speaker 1: very real chance that they blow things up, right, Like,

984
00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:07,160
Speaker 1: I think there's a good chance that they end up

985
00:47:07,200 --> 00:47:09,000
Speaker 1: two and eight after ten games. I think they'll beat

986
00:47:09,040 --> 00:47:10,359
Speaker 1: the Jazz, but I think that I think they play

987
00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:12,480
Speaker 1: the Nicks and Celtics after that. Those are probably a

988
00:47:12,520 --> 00:47:14,760
Speaker 1: couple of losses, right, And so I think they're probably

989
00:47:14,760 --> 00:47:16,239
Speaker 1: gonna be sitting at two and eight. And if they

990
00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:20,080
Speaker 1: don't they if they aren't active participants in their own survival,

991
00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:22,120
Speaker 1: if they don't dig out of this hole, and if

992
00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:26,120
Speaker 1: they find themselves, you know, fifteen and twenty five after

993
00:47:26,200 --> 00:47:28,600
Speaker 1: forty games, there's a really good chance that you end

994
00:47:28,680 --> 00:47:31,160
Speaker 1: up trading everybody, right, because at that point, it's like,

995
00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:33,879
Speaker 1: if you're just bad and you're not close, then there's

996
00:47:33,920 --> 00:47:38,000
Speaker 1: no point investing in an older Damian Lillard at that point, right,

997
00:47:38,320 --> 00:47:41,400
Speaker 1: And if you can't quickly put a contending roster around Giannis,

998
00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:44,440
Speaker 1: he's gonna request to trade anyway. And there are guys

999
00:47:44,440 --> 00:47:46,759
Speaker 1: on that roster that are valuable to other teams around

1000
00:47:46,800 --> 00:47:48,520
Speaker 1: the league, like Brook Lopez is a guy that would

1001
00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:50,239
Speaker 1: be valuable to some other teams around the league. I

1002
00:47:50,280 --> 00:47:51,400
Speaker 1: know he would. There's a lot of teams that are

1003
00:47:51,400 --> 00:47:53,560
Speaker 1: looking for a center. Hell yeah, one that could shoot

1004
00:47:53,560 --> 00:47:55,880
Speaker 1: the ball a little bit, right, Like, I mean, I

1005
00:47:55,920 --> 00:47:58,160
Speaker 1: even think that a guy like Chris Middleton would have

1006
00:47:58,200 --> 00:48:00,160
Speaker 1: some trade value if he could get healthy for a

1007
00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:02,399
Speaker 1: a decent amount of time. So, like, there's a very

1008
00:48:02,400 --> 00:48:05,280
Speaker 1: real chance that this goes south and they're completely blown

1009
00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:07,160
Speaker 1: up before the end of the season, but there's also

1010
00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:10,000
Speaker 1: a real chance that they figure it out. The blueprint

1011
00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:12,399
Speaker 1: is the twenty twenty three Lakers, right they started two

1012
00:48:12,440 --> 00:48:15,279
Speaker 1: to ten. The twenty twenty three Lakers started to and

1013
00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:18,720
Speaker 1: ten with Lebron and ad combining to only miss three

1014
00:48:18,800 --> 00:48:23,239
Speaker 1: games in that stretch. Like that's as bleak as it gets, right,

1015
00:48:23,680 --> 00:48:26,080
Speaker 1: That team made the Western Conference finals, right, So it's

1016
00:48:26,120 --> 00:48:29,279
Speaker 1: like you can turn it around, and especially in that

1017
00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:31,640
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference where there's only two teams over five hundred

1018
00:48:31,719 --> 00:48:34,160
Speaker 1: right now, and if you look at the standings, they're

1019
00:48:34,160 --> 00:48:35,799
Speaker 1: not really all that far out of the in the

1020
00:48:35,880 --> 00:48:38,440
Speaker 1: mix because everyone else has been so mediocre. So like

1021
00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:40,480
Speaker 1: there's a very real chance to figure it out as well.

1022
00:48:40,480 --> 00:48:42,760
Speaker 1: And I think we gotta make sure that we quantify

1023
00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:46,120
Speaker 1: that if Giannis becomes available, will the Thunder just say

1024
00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:49,280
Speaker 1: fit and include Chet and Jalen Williams in a deal.

1025
00:48:49,920 --> 00:48:52,160
Speaker 1: I'm getting to the point with Chet where I think

1026
00:48:52,200 --> 00:48:57,719
Speaker 1: he might be untradeable. Like I like, he's if you

1027
00:48:57,760 --> 00:48:59,560
Speaker 1: were listing the players that have played better than him

1028
00:48:59,600 --> 00:49:02,920
Speaker 1: the season, and it's not very long, like maybe fifteen guys.

1029
00:49:03,960 --> 00:49:06,680
Speaker 1: I'm not sure, and he's only in his second full

1030
00:49:06,719 --> 00:49:09,239
Speaker 1: year playing in the NBA. I don't know that I

1031
00:49:09,239 --> 00:49:11,080
Speaker 1: would trade jet A Chet even if it was forre

1032
00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:15,160
Speaker 1: You honest, who is your pick to win the NBA Cup?

1033
00:49:15,200 --> 00:49:17,240
Speaker 1: Do you think winning the NBA Cup affects the winning

1034
00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:19,160
Speaker 1: team at all for the rest of the year. I

1035
00:49:19,160 --> 00:49:21,759
Speaker 1: think Boston is the right pick. I think that they're

1036
00:49:21,800 --> 00:49:25,000
Speaker 1: the best team playing the best basketball right now. The

1037
00:49:25,080 --> 00:49:27,040
Speaker 1: Thunder I think also. I think Boston and Thunder, just

1038
00:49:27,520 --> 00:49:29,600
Speaker 1: like I would say for the championship, they're the two

1039
00:49:29,600 --> 00:49:34,160
Speaker 1: best basketball teams. I think both. I think Boston, in particular,

1040
00:49:34,520 --> 00:49:36,680
Speaker 1: because of their reliance on three point shooting, has some

1041
00:49:36,760 --> 00:49:39,759
Speaker 1: vulnerability in a single elimination format, but they're also so

1042
00:49:39,840 --> 00:49:41,839
Speaker 1: good defensively that they can kind of level that out.

1043
00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:45,240
Speaker 1: So I think I go with Boston. Does it affect

1044
00:49:45,239 --> 00:49:47,840
Speaker 1: a winning team? I thought in the moment, I remember

1045
00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:50,680
Speaker 1: actually talks about this. I want to say the night,

1046
00:49:50,880 --> 00:49:53,839
Speaker 1: either the morning after or the night of. But I

1047
00:49:53,920 --> 00:49:56,400
Speaker 1: was worried as the Lakers were hoisting the trophy in

1048
00:49:56,880 --> 00:49:58,960
Speaker 1: the N Season Tournament last year, I was like, I

1049
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:01,200
Speaker 1: was like, I hope that they don't just immediately relax

1050
00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:04,600
Speaker 1: after this, And it was literally then. It was right

1051
00:50:04,640 --> 00:50:06,759
Speaker 1: after the N Season Tournament that they lost three out.

1052
00:50:07,040 --> 00:50:10,040
Speaker 1: They lost ten out of thirteen games. They completely fell

1053
00:50:10,040 --> 00:50:12,239
Speaker 1: apart right away because, like they it was like a

1054
00:50:12,280 --> 00:50:15,319
Speaker 1: sense of accomplishment in the middle of a season when

1055
00:50:15,360 --> 00:50:17,359
Speaker 1: the other twenty nine teams did not have the sense

1056
00:50:17,360 --> 00:50:19,920
Speaker 1: of accomplishment, and for a team that already struggled with

1057
00:50:19,920 --> 00:50:23,120
Speaker 1: motivating itself, that ended up being a real problem. I

1058
00:50:23,160 --> 00:50:25,320
Speaker 1: think a team like Oklahoma City in Boston, though, I

1059
00:50:25,360 --> 00:50:27,560
Speaker 1: think they're professional enough and I think they're talented enough

1060
00:50:27,560 --> 00:50:30,480
Speaker 1: to be able to overcome that last question. I thought

1061
00:50:30,480 --> 00:50:34,200
Speaker 1: this was really interesting. Why are offenses in general slowly

1062
00:50:34,280 --> 00:50:36,399
Speaker 1: moving on from pick and roll over the last couple

1063
00:50:36,400 --> 00:50:39,000
Speaker 1: of years. I had to look it up because I

1064
00:50:39,040 --> 00:50:41,400
Speaker 1: wasn't sure this was a real thing. Here's a stat

1065
00:50:41,480 --> 00:50:44,800
Speaker 1: to prove this though. Teams to run pick and roll

1066
00:50:44,840 --> 00:50:48,320
Speaker 1: over on over thirty five percent of their possessions. Okay,

1067
00:50:49,200 --> 00:50:53,520
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, twelve teams ran pick and roll in

1068
00:50:53,560 --> 00:50:56,319
Speaker 1: over thirty five percent of their possessions. Twenty twenty two,

1069
00:50:56,600 --> 00:51:00,680
Speaker 1: ten teams, twenty twenty three, six teams. Last year twenty

1070
00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:03,799
Speaker 1: twenty four, only five teams in the NBA ran pick

1071
00:51:03,840 --> 00:51:05,799
Speaker 1: and rolling over thirty five percent of their possession. So

1072
00:51:05,840 --> 00:51:09,759
Speaker 1: there is a clear shift away from ball screens in

1073
00:51:09,800 --> 00:51:12,400
Speaker 1: the NBA. What's causing that? I think it's a combination

1074
00:51:12,480 --> 00:51:15,839
Speaker 1: of a bunch of factors. Right, it's always super complicated. One,

1075
00:51:15,840 --> 00:51:17,840
Speaker 1: there's a lot more dribble handoff stuff as part of

1076
00:51:17,880 --> 00:51:21,040
Speaker 1: five out Right, Like, there's one of the most common

1077
00:51:21,040 --> 00:51:23,759
Speaker 1: places you'll see in the NBA Chicago action or zoom action,

1078
00:51:23,840 --> 00:51:25,440
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it, which is basically just

1079
00:51:25,760 --> 00:51:27,960
Speaker 1: big man at the top of the key, ball handler

1080
00:51:27,960 --> 00:51:30,200
Speaker 1: in the opposite in the right corner or left corner,

1081
00:51:30,239 --> 00:51:32,400
Speaker 1: whatever it is. Let's call it the right corner, and

1082
00:51:32,440 --> 00:51:35,200
Speaker 1: then another guard who can do something with the basketball

1083
00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:38,480
Speaker 1: that is setting the first screen and basically that guy

1084
00:51:38,520 --> 00:51:41,560
Speaker 1: screens down and the big comes over for a dribble handoff,

1085
00:51:41,600 --> 00:51:44,080
Speaker 1: and the guy comes out of the corner and gets

1086
00:51:44,120 --> 00:51:46,680
Speaker 1: the handoff and goes to work. Right. That functions as

1087
00:51:46,680 --> 00:51:48,320
Speaker 1: a ball screen, but it's not going to be logged

1088
00:51:48,320 --> 00:51:49,640
Speaker 1: as a ball screen. It's going to be logged as

1089
00:51:49,680 --> 00:51:52,120
Speaker 1: a dribble handoff. But it functions the same way because

1090
00:51:52,480 --> 00:51:55,239
Speaker 1: the guy guarding the ball, the guy coming out of

1091
00:51:55,239 --> 00:51:58,359
Speaker 1: the corner is probably going to lock and trail, and

1092
00:51:58,600 --> 00:52:00,600
Speaker 1: that's going to get him into trail, and then it's

1093
00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:02,879
Speaker 1: going to function more or less like a ball screen. Right.

1094
00:52:03,239 --> 00:52:05,319
Speaker 1: But one of the things we've been seeing all over

1095
00:52:05,360 --> 00:52:07,640
Speaker 1: the place in the NBA is teams are trying to

1096
00:52:07,640 --> 00:52:09,680
Speaker 1: deny the use of ball screens as much as possible.

1097
00:52:09,760 --> 00:52:12,799
Speaker 1: Right on the side of the floor, they are icing

1098
00:52:12,840 --> 00:52:15,239
Speaker 1: ball screens, meaning that they're taking their defender way up

1099
00:52:15,239 --> 00:52:17,400
Speaker 1: to the screen side and forcing them to reject and

1100
00:52:17,400 --> 00:52:20,600
Speaker 1: go back towards the sideline. Situations like Chicago and Zoom,

1101
00:52:20,600 --> 00:52:22,880
Speaker 1: like I just broke down a lot of times on

1102
00:52:23,120 --> 00:52:24,880
Speaker 1: the defender of the guard in the corner is just

1103
00:52:24,920 --> 00:52:27,600
Speaker 1: top blocking and forcing that guy to back cut right,

1104
00:52:27,920 --> 00:52:31,439
Speaker 1: which is in turn, in many cases forcing the other

1105
00:52:31,520 --> 00:52:33,000
Speaker 1: guy to turn around and then come off of the

1106
00:52:33,080 --> 00:52:36,280
Speaker 1: dribble handoff, right, even that guy is in many cases

1107
00:52:36,320 --> 00:52:38,680
Speaker 1: top locked and forced to backcut. Now the big has

1108
00:52:38,719 --> 00:52:40,200
Speaker 1: to turn around and look for action on the other

1109
00:52:40,239 --> 00:52:43,520
Speaker 1: side of the floor. Right, That's really the thing, if I,

1110
00:52:43,520 --> 00:52:46,560
Speaker 1: if I had to come up with a reason why

1111
00:52:47,440 --> 00:52:51,080
Speaker 1: beyond the some of the shifts to five out, NBA

1112
00:52:51,120 --> 00:52:53,520
Speaker 1: team has got pretty good at guarding ball screens, like

1113
00:52:53,719 --> 00:52:56,440
Speaker 1: it like as is always the case, right, Like everyone

1114
00:52:56,480 --> 00:52:58,200
Speaker 1: had like different strategies. Like you go back to the

1115
00:52:58,280 --> 00:53:01,280
Speaker 1: late twenty tens, was a lot of hedging. Bigs were hedging.

1116
00:53:01,640 --> 00:53:04,600
Speaker 1: They were coming way out to stop the drive and

1117
00:53:04,640 --> 00:53:07,600
Speaker 1: then sprinting back into the lane. Right. Then there was

1118
00:53:07,600 --> 00:53:10,080
Speaker 1: a lot of like guards going under right, guards ducking

1119
00:53:10,120 --> 00:53:12,160
Speaker 1: underpicks and meeting the guard on the opposite side of

1120
00:53:12,160 --> 00:53:14,640
Speaker 1: the screen. And then when Steph Curry came in, everyone

1121
00:53:14,719 --> 00:53:16,680
Speaker 1: kind of had to readjust that. Then Dame started doing it.

1122
00:53:16,719 --> 00:53:19,080
Speaker 1: Then everyone started shooting these off the dribble threes, and

1123
00:53:19,120 --> 00:53:21,239
Speaker 1: then they kind of crafted this new system. And now

1124
00:53:21,520 --> 00:53:25,759
Speaker 1: the most common ball screen coverage that you'll see in

1125
00:53:25,800 --> 00:53:29,600
Speaker 1: the NBA right now is you have the on ball

1126
00:53:29,600 --> 00:53:32,239
Speaker 1: defender chase over the top of the screen. On any

1127
00:53:32,320 --> 00:53:35,200
Speaker 1: high ball screen side ball screens, they're icing right, which

1128
00:53:35,239 --> 00:53:37,800
Speaker 1: means they're forcing him towards the sideline and rejecting the screen.

1129
00:53:38,160 --> 00:53:40,120
Speaker 1: But anything up in the middle of the floor, you're

1130
00:53:40,200 --> 00:53:42,680
Speaker 1: chasing over the top. You're bringing the big up to

1131
00:53:42,719 --> 00:53:44,799
Speaker 1: the level, and you're tagging from the weak side. That

1132
00:53:44,880 --> 00:53:46,720
Speaker 1: is the way the vast majority of teams are defending

1133
00:53:46,760 --> 00:53:48,600
Speaker 1: in the NBA. Then what they do is with that

1134
00:53:48,640 --> 00:53:51,480
Speaker 1: week side two on one, they have the defender kind

1135
00:53:51,520 --> 00:53:53,640
Speaker 1: of split the difference between the two and they rotate

1136
00:53:53,640 --> 00:53:55,880
Speaker 1: out of it right. And so that has kind of

1137
00:53:55,920 --> 00:53:59,399
Speaker 1: become the set way to defend ball screens all around

1138
00:53:59,440 --> 00:54:02,960
Speaker 1: the NBA. And what's becoming clear is like that's actually

1139
00:54:03,280 --> 00:54:05,800
Speaker 1: one of the easier to guard actions in the league.

1140
00:54:05,840 --> 00:54:08,080
Speaker 1: And so I think you're seeing a lot more off

1141
00:54:08,120 --> 00:54:10,440
Speaker 1: ball action, a lot more big at the top of

1142
00:54:10,480 --> 00:54:12,799
Speaker 1: the key, with guys cutting and playing off the ball

1143
00:54:12,840 --> 00:54:16,080
Speaker 1: off of him, right, You're seeing a lot You're just

1144
00:54:16,120 --> 00:54:19,040
Speaker 1: in general, we've the post up kind of died in

1145
00:54:19,040 --> 00:54:21,040
Speaker 1: the NBA for a while. That has been a big

1146
00:54:21,360 --> 00:54:25,080
Speaker 1: return with guys like Nikola Jokic, with guys like alprin

1147
00:54:25,120 --> 00:54:28,200
Speaker 1: shangun with guys like Joel Embiid, with guys like Anthony Davis. Right,

1148
00:54:29,280 --> 00:54:31,279
Speaker 1: all the switching that you see in the NBA. Now,

1149
00:54:31,280 --> 00:54:33,480
Speaker 1: that's another thing too, another big part of why there's

1150
00:54:33,520 --> 00:54:36,000
Speaker 1: not as much pick and roll. There's a lot more switching.

1151
00:54:36,200 --> 00:54:38,400
Speaker 1: Where there's more switching, that's gonna lead to more ISO

1152
00:54:38,480 --> 00:54:40,040
Speaker 1: and post ups, right, Like, there's a lot more of

1153
00:54:40,080 --> 00:54:44,480
Speaker 1: like Pascal Siakam posting up a small after a switch

1154
00:54:44,480 --> 00:54:47,040
Speaker 1: in a ball screen. Right. So, like, again, I just

1155
00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:49,600
Speaker 1: got presented this today. I'm not trying to pretend like

1156
00:54:49,640 --> 00:54:51,760
Speaker 1: I know the answer, but if you guys are curious,

1157
00:54:51,800 --> 00:54:54,680
Speaker 1: my guess. My guess is it's a combination of like

1158
00:54:54,719 --> 00:54:57,640
Speaker 1: shifting to more five out concepts, a lot more switching,

1159
00:54:57,920 --> 00:55:01,160
Speaker 1: neutralizing some pick and roll entered pick and roll coverages,

1160
00:55:01,239 --> 00:55:03,080
Speaker 1: reaching the point where they're actually doing a pretty decent

1161
00:55:03,160 --> 00:55:05,320
Speaker 1: job guarding it. At this point, it's always going to

1162
00:55:05,360 --> 00:55:07,920
Speaker 1: be a huge part of the game. There's still you know,

1163
00:55:07,960 --> 00:55:10,000
Speaker 1: the vast majority of teams are still running it roughly

1164
00:55:10,040 --> 00:55:11,879
Speaker 1: a third of the time, so it's still a huge

1165
00:55:11,880 --> 00:55:13,640
Speaker 1: part of the game. But it definitely is tweaking down

1166
00:55:13,680 --> 00:55:15,320
Speaker 1: a little bit, which I do think is fascinating, so

1167
00:55:15,480 --> 00:55:17,520
Speaker 1: very good question. All right, guys, that is all I

1168
00:55:17,560 --> 00:55:19,520
Speaker 1: have for today. Is always, I sincerely appreciate you guys

1169
00:55:19,520 --> 00:55:21,520
Speaker 1: for supporting me and supporting the show. I hope you

1170
00:55:21,560 --> 00:55:23,600
Speaker 1: all have an amazing weekend. We'll see you on Monday

1171
00:55:23,920 --> 00:55:29,680
Speaker 1: for some power rankings the volume. What's up guys? As always,

1172
00:55:29,719 --> 00:55:32,720
Speaker 1: I appreciate you for listening to and supporting OOPS tonight.

1173
00:55:32,840 --> 00:55:34,840
Speaker 1: It would actually be really helpful for us if you

1174
00:55:34,840 --> 00:55:37,520
Speaker 1: guys would take a second and leave a rating and

1175
00:55:37,640 --> 00:55:39,799
Speaker 1: a review. As always, I appreciate you guys supporting us,

1176
00:55:39,800 --> 00:55:41,239
Speaker 1: but if you could take a minute to do that,

1177
00:55:41,480 --> 00:55:42,759
Speaker 1: I'd really appreciate it.