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Speaker 1: The volume.

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Speaker 2: All right, all good to hims tonight. You're at the

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Speaker 2: volume heavy Friday. Everybody, hope all of you guys had

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Speaker 2: an incredible week. Have a jam pack show for you

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Speaker 2: guys today. We're gonna be doing two instant reactions to

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Speaker 2: last night's games, as the Clippers put together a very

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Speaker 2: very solid all around performance against the Lakers to get

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Speaker 2: a win. And then we'll talk about Joel Embiid in

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Speaker 2: his thirty point triple double, although with the caveat a

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Speaker 2: little bit of a weird statistical anomaly there, as the

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Speaker 2: Sixers get an overtime win over the Rockets. I really

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Speaker 2: want to zoom in on Tyre Smaxy and his speed

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Speaker 2: and how it dominated that matchup. And then I've got

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Speaker 2: a couple of male bag questions at the tail of

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Speaker 2: the show. I want to talk about the Genie buss

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Speaker 2: Lebron Baxter Holmes piece, and I want to talk a

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Speaker 2: little bit about the twenty twenty Lakers and the twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty two Warriors and how both of those teams botched

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Speaker 2: their title defense so spectacularly over the course of the

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Speaker 2: last half decade. You guys are the joke before we

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Speaker 2: get started. Subscribe to the Hoops to Night YouTube channels.

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Speaker 2: You don't miss any more of our videos. Make sure

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Speaker 2: you like this video. That helps us a lot. And

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Speaker 2: if you want to get questions into our mailbags, make

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Speaker 2: sure you drop them in the comments underneath this video

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Speaker 2: or any of our other full episodes, and we'll get

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Speaker 2: to them in our mail bags throughout the rest.

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Speaker 1: Of the year.

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Speaker 2: All right, let's talk some basketball. So it's no secret

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Speaker 2: that the Clippers have been playing great basketball as of late.

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Speaker 2: They have the best record in the league since December

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Speaker 2: twentieth at fourteen and three, their fourth and offense during

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Speaker 2: that span, eighth in defense, fourth and net rating. Really,

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Speaker 2: the only thing they haven't done well in that span

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Speaker 2: is rebound the basketball. And I just thought they threw

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Speaker 2: an excellent punch last night. I thought they played near

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Speaker 2: the ceiling of what they're capable of, especially on the

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Speaker 2: offensive end of the floor. The level of shot making

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Speaker 2: in refined offensive skill that they displayed in that win

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Speaker 2: against the Lakers, especially through the first two and a

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Speaker 2: half quarters, was incredible. And it's our with Kawhi who

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Speaker 2: just came out and hit a variety of pull up

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Speaker 2: pull up jump shots from various spots on the floor

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Speaker 2: from various out of various kinds of dribble combinations. And

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Speaker 2: we've talked about this on the show in recent weeks,

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Speaker 2: but this is by far the most impressive stretch of

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Speaker 2: pull up shooting in Kawai's career by volume. He's making

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Speaker 2: four and a half of them every game, So for

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Speaker 2: some perspective, that's the third most in the entire league,

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Speaker 2: just behind Shay and Luca. He have averaged only two

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Speaker 2: point eight makes per game last year, three point four

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Speaker 2: in the twenty twenty season his first year with the

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Speaker 2: Clippers in only three point zero in his last year

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Speaker 2: with the Raptors. So we're talking about a level of

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Speaker 2: volume with Kawhi as at pull up shooter that we've

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Speaker 2: never seen from him before. And he's been surgically efficient

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Speaker 2: fifty five percent on pull up twos, thirty nine percent

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Speaker 2: on pull up threes. Every time he takes a pull

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Speaker 2: up jump shot, it's worth one point one five points.

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Speaker 2: Really impressive pull up shooting from Kawhi all season just

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Speaker 2: came out on fire last night. He took eleven of

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Speaker 2: them and made seven. That's absurd pull up shooting from

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Speaker 2: Kawhi Leonard in the win last night, And that's more

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Speaker 2: or less what I mean when I say the Clippers

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Speaker 2: threw a great punch, Like I want to have a

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Speaker 2: conversation in a minute about the Lakers defense and about

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Speaker 2: the difference between like following a game plan to dictate

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Speaker 2: a certain shot profile versus actually disrupting a team's rhythm,

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Speaker 2: which they did during their run. But we'll do a

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Speaker 2: deeper dive on that in a little bit. In the

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Speaker 2: first three quarters, which again, in that mid third quarter

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Speaker 2: is when the Clippers took that twenty six point lead.

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Speaker 2: In the first three quarters, the Lakers forced the Clippers

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Speaker 2: into twenty two pull up jump shots. They average twenty

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Speaker 2: point five per game on the season. The Lakers forced

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Speaker 2: them into twenty two just in the first three quarters.

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Speaker 2: So that's a form of game plan success, right Like

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Speaker 2: most defensive game plans are built around the idea, how

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Speaker 2: can we stop this team from getting easy attempts around

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Speaker 2: the rim in easy clean catch and shoot looks for

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Speaker 2: good shooters. And you do that by keeping the ball

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Speaker 2: in front, forcing the Clippers to hit tougher shots over

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Speaker 2: the top. They did that. Now, the rhythm disrupting piece

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Speaker 2: is different. They did that a little bit more in

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Speaker 2: the fourth quarter. It led to some misses. We'll talk

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Speaker 2: about that in a minute, but in terms of the

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Speaker 2: shot profile, you made the Clippers take a bunch of

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Speaker 2: pull up jump shots. On those twenty two pull up

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Speaker 2: jump shots, they made eleven of them, four of them

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Speaker 2: were threes, and they got three made free throws out

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Speaker 2: of it. So they got twenty nine points out of

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Speaker 2: those twenty two pull up jump shots. That's super impressive

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Speaker 2: shot making. I also wanted to shout out the young

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Speaker 2: guys here. Jordan Miller and Kobe Sanders have both been

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Speaker 2: massive contributors for the Clippers during this run that they've

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Speaker 2: been on. Between the two of them in this fourteen

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Speaker 2: and three stretch, they're averaging sixteen points per game, both

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Speaker 2: very efficiently. Kobe Sanders is shooting it super well from

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Speaker 2: the perimeter, those little wonderuble pull ups like you hit

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Speaker 2: in the first half, the catch and shoot threes. He's

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Speaker 2: been shooting the ball really well. And then Jordan Miller,

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Speaker 2: he's like a legit scorer. He's got a lot of

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Speaker 2: high level scoring polish. He's aggressive, he can chain together

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Speaker 2: moves and counter moves. He's got the kind of like

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Speaker 2: fluidity and creativity you need in the short range to

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Speaker 2: be a successful score, and he's got some of those

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Speaker 2: patented foul grifting moves down. He got the Lakers with

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Speaker 2: a couple of them last night, a low gather, and

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Speaker 2: then he also got one of those classic like bump

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Speaker 2: and shoot plays where he just drive out a guy

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Speaker 2: and then as soon as you make contact with that shoulder,

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Speaker 2: just rise up and shoot. You know the stuff that

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Speaker 2: we see Luca and shade you all the time. Like

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Speaker 2: he got one of those last night too. Jordan Miller's

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Speaker 2: averaging two point one free throw attempts per game in

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Speaker 2: the seventeen game stretch, and I understand that doesn't sound

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Speaker 2: like much, but that's in nineteen minutes per game, so

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Speaker 2: at roughly four free throw attempts per thirty six minutes

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Speaker 2: for a role player, that's super impressive. And then for

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Speaker 2: Kobe Sanders, he's forty one percent on catch and shoot

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Speaker 2: threes this season and he's four six percent on those

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Speaker 2: little pull up twos inside of seventeen feet. They both

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Speaker 2: bring a good amount of offensive polish to the table

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Speaker 2: in addition to being bigger athletes that can guard multiple positions.

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Speaker 2: And I just thought it was the latest in a

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Speaker 2: long line of examples of why it's so important to

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Speaker 2: have competent scouting in your front office. Every time you

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Speaker 2: go into a season, something's gonna go wrong with your

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Speaker 2: big plan. Maybe one of your superstars gets hurt, Maybe

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Speaker 2: an important role player gets hurt, kind of like what

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Speaker 2: happened with Derek Jones Junior for the Clippers this year.

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Speaker 2: Maybe an important veteran signing doesn't pan out, like Chris

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Speaker 2: Paul for example, doesn't pan out with the Clippers this year,

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Speaker 2: And so you need some guys who can step in

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Speaker 2: and play meaningful and effective minutes for you when that

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Speaker 2: stuff happens, when an injury to star happens, when an

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Speaker 2: injury to an important role player happens, when a vet

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Speaker 2: isn't panning out, you need a dude who can come

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Speaker 2: in and play fifteen minutes somewhere on your rocks. And

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Speaker 2: that's where Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller have been massive

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Speaker 2: boosts to the Clippers.

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Speaker 1: During this run.

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Speaker 2: And I'm not the least bit surprised when I'm watching

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Speaker 2: these higher level front offices around the league, whether it's

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Speaker 2: the Clippers or the Grizzlies, or the Warriors or the heat.

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Speaker 2: They just always seem to find more of these guys

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Speaker 2: every year. It's like, oh, will Richard, that's a good

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Speaker 2: basketball player there, Holy cow, Like this guy's, you know,

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Speaker 2: capable of really playing a substantial role on a good team.

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Speaker 2: And they just found him here. They found him there,

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Speaker 2: They find him discounted, They find him on the margins

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Speaker 2: because they do the work behind the scenes based on

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Speaker 2: their beliefs in what works in the modern NBA to

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Speaker 2: find quality NBA rotation talent, guys with size and athleticism

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Speaker 2: that can dribble, shoot and pass, and they find them

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Speaker 2: where literally anyone in the league could find them if

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Speaker 2: they exploit that margin. Both Jordan Miller and Kobe Sanders

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Speaker 2: were late second round picks. Those teams that we know

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Speaker 2: have high level front offices, they always seem to just

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Speaker 2: churn out high level basketball players from every margin. Lottery picks,

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Speaker 2: late first rounders, second round picks, undrafted guys, NBA journeymen,

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Speaker 2: veteran minimum contracts, overseas talent. They're just constantly hunting for

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Speaker 2: opportunities and it pays dividends for them in situations like

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Speaker 2: this in this fourteen and three stretch for the Clippers,

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Speaker 2: they are getting forty one quality rotation minutes per game

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Speaker 2: from two late second round picks, all on the margins.

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Speaker 2: You just expose that with the Lakers, who have botched

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Speaker 2: every first round pick in this era. Literally got nothing

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Speaker 2: out of Jalen hood Chafino he's out of the league,

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Speaker 2: and Dalton connect as a professional shooter who can't make shots,

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Speaker 2: so he can't play in the one bright spot the

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Speaker 2: Lakers had in their front office Joey and Jesse Buss,

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Speaker 2: who were in charge of late round scouting, so like

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Speaker 2: second round scouting, undrafted scouting, they had the most input

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Speaker 2: when it came to the margins surrounding the trove of

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Speaker 2: players coming out of college. We saw bright spots there.

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Speaker 2: Max Christy Austin reeves, there have been a variety of

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Speaker 2: those guys that have come in the late portions of

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Speaker 2: the draft or the undrafted market that have played big

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Speaker 2: roles for the Lakers, and Genie Bus fired them because,

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Speaker 2: according to the reports, you know, among other reasons, she

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Speaker 2: thinks they shouldn't have been born. So that just goes

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Speaker 2: to show you how different these two front offices are.

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Speaker 2: The Lakers don't even have a pro personnel scouting department,

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Speaker 2: so they're never gonna get the Javonte Greens of the world,

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Speaker 2: who can come in on a veteran contract like he did,

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Speaker 2: a veteran minimum contract like he did for the Pistons,

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Speaker 2: and anchor a bench unit with awesome two way play

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Speaker 2: at the guard position. It's literally just superstars and vibes

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Speaker 2: down in Lakerland.

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Speaker 1: Anyway.

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Speaker 2: The Clippers end up taking a twenty six point lead

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Speaker 2: in the middle of the third quarter on the strength

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Speaker 2: of that shot making. Zubots was also killing the Lakers

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Speaker 2: on the offensive glass. He's always been a tough matchup

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Speaker 2: for Jackson Hayes in particularly, you can just kind of

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Speaker 2: shove him under the rim. And the Lakers have just

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Speaker 2: gotten really inconsistent play out of eight and as of

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Speaker 2: late anyway, and he ended up getting a double double

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Speaker 2: literally just with offensive rebounds in points. He had ten

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Speaker 2: offensive rebounds last night. Some strong defense from the Clippers.

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Speaker 2: They've been defending much better over the course of this

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Speaker 2: seventeen game span, especially in that second quarter run. And

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Speaker 2: they end up going back up by twenty six in

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Speaker 2: the mid third quarter. And the Lakers made their run

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Speaker 2: when they turned up their defensive intensity. And this is

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Speaker 2: where I want to talk about that rhythm disruption piece.

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Speaker 2: You'll notice I didn't bring up variants when I discussed

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Speaker 2: the Clippers shooting. James Harden and kawhile Enard are both

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Speaker 2: very good pull up shooters. As a team, the Clippers

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Speaker 2: are an excellent jump shooting team, their top ten efficiency

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Speaker 2: jump shooting team in the league this year. If you

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Speaker 2: allow them to get into their bag off the dribble,

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Speaker 2: it's like a shooting drill for those guys. They practice

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Speaker 2: those hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times

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Speaker 2: every single week. It's easy work for them. If you

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Speaker 2: allow clean catch and shoot looks for them, they're gonna

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Speaker 2: knock them down. One of the things that the Lakers

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Speaker 2: defensively really struggle with is disrupting rhythm. So what does

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Speaker 2: that mean to me? That means for the off the

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Speaker 2: dribble stuff, preventing that star from getting into their bag,

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Speaker 2: meaning not allowing them to dribble cleanly to their spots

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Speaker 2: for the catch and shoots, pressuring the passer so the

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Speaker 2: passes off target, closing out with a level of intensity

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Speaker 2: that makes the shooter uncomfortable. When we talk about makes

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Speaker 2: and misses, it's not like pulling an arm on a

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Speaker 2: slot machine. That's why I hate the discussion surrounding shooting variants.

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Speaker 2: It's not like NBA two K where you get to

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Speaker 2: a spot and you shoot and a little percentage pops

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Speaker 2: up and it's like this has a thirty eight percent

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Speaker 2: chance of going in. Let's just run the simulator and

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Speaker 2: see what happens. It's all factors beyond that is the

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Speaker 2: shooter in rhythm and feeling confident based on what happened

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Speaker 2: in recent PA sessions for catch and shoot looks, did

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Speaker 2: the pass hit him in the pocket or was it

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Speaker 2: low or off to the side. Lebron misses a catch

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Speaker 2: and shoot three off the right wing at the end

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Speaker 2: because they double Luka Doncic, and when Luca throws the pass,

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Speaker 2: it's way off to Lebron's right by the time he

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Speaker 2: catches it and gathers it gets his hands on the

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Speaker 2: ball right. It allowed John Collins to rotate and get

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Speaker 2: a good contest and Lebron bricked the three. That is

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Speaker 2: not a clean catch and shoot. That is an example

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Speaker 2: of a miss that comes from the process. Defensively, did

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Speaker 2: the seams line up on his fingers right or was

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Speaker 2: it on his hands funky, Is the closeout on time

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Speaker 2: or was it lacking a certain amount of intensity. If

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Speaker 2: you allow a passer to comfortably throw a chest pass

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Speaker 2: with the seams lined up right into a shooting pocket

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Speaker 2: for a good shooter in a spot that he's comfortable

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Speaker 2: and the closeout is late, it's not a thirty eight

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Speaker 2: percent shot. It's like a seventy percent shot. It's probably

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Speaker 2: gonna go in. It's unusual if it misses. If you

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Speaker 2: disrupt the pass so that it's off target, or his

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Speaker 2: hands are on the ball thunky, or the close out

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Speaker 2: makes him shoot it a little faster or higher up

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Speaker 2: in the air. Now it's like a fifteen percent chance

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Speaker 2: of going in. All of those factors over a large

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Speaker 2: sample will look like a guy who's a thirty eight

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Speaker 2: percent three point shooter. But it's not like you just

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Speaker 2: get a thirty eight percent shot every time he shoots

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Speaker 2: a three. Every possession is unique and for the off

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Speaker 2: the dribble guys. And this is really why where I

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Speaker 2: want to talk about the rhythm disruption piece, because the

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Speaker 2: Lakers get cooked by these ball handlers often. It's a

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Speaker 2: consistent problem that they have and it comes from them

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Speaker 2: comfortably getting to their spots. Do you disrupt his handle

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Speaker 2: with ball pressure? Did you disrupt his gather as he

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Speaker 2: was going up when he made his move? Did you

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Speaker 2: knock him off his base so that when he went

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Speaker 2: to go lift off the ground he didn't get as

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Speaker 2: much lift as he typically gets. If you allow Kawhi

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Speaker 2: Leonard to cleanly dribble into a pull up fifteen footer

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Speaker 2: coming off of a screen and nobody touches him, it's

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Speaker 2: like he's in one of his shooting workout, And when

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Speaker 2: he's in one of his shooting workouts, he's not hitting

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Speaker 2: that fifty five percent of the time. He's hitting that

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Speaker 2: like eighty five percent of the time that is going

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Speaker 2: to go in if you can't disrupt his rhythm at all. Now,

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Speaker 2: if you fight him off of his spot, you make

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Speaker 2: him catch it out further than he wants. You attack

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Speaker 2: his dribble and speed him up and cause him to

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Speaker 2: fumble the ball a little bit. You ball pressure him

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Speaker 2: and you cause him to twist his feet up when

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Speaker 2: he's trying to get to his spot. You have active

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Speaker 2: hands on his gather. Now, that's not a fifty five

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Speaker 2: percent shot, it's a twenty percent shot. It's probably not

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Speaker 2: going in. And again, over the large sample, all of

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Speaker 2: that stuff evens out with Kawhi being a fifty five

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Speaker 2: percent shooter on the mid range from the season right.

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Speaker 2: This is why ball pressure and perimeter defense matters so much.

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Speaker 2: It's what makes people uncomfortable, that disrupts rhythm and makes

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Speaker 2: the misshots. Look at teams like Miami Great Ball Pressure Team,

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Speaker 2: Detroit Great Ball Pressure Team, Houston Great Ball Pressure Team.

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Speaker 2: You got Tarr Easton and a mentomps up in your

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Speaker 2: jersey the whole game, Oklahoma City Excellent Ball Pressure Team,

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Speaker 2: Minnesota Excellent Ball Pressure Team, Boston Excellent Ball Pressure Team.

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Speaker 2: All of those teams are top ten in opponent efficiency

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Speaker 2: on pull up jump shots according to s Energy. All

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Speaker 2: of them are holding opponents below thirty seven percent on

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Speaker 2: pull up jump shots. That's not a coincidence, that's not

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Speaker 2: shot variants. It's a return on investment that comes from

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Speaker 2: how they get up into the basketball constantly. That was

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Speaker 2: what was fascinating about the Lakers second half front. From

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Speaker 2: the mid third quarter to the mid fourth quarter, the

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Speaker 2: Lakers closed that lead from twenty six to two, and

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Speaker 2: a huge part of it was they increased their ball

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Speaker 2: pressure and activity. Jared Vanderbilt was pestering Kawhi all over

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Speaker 2: the floor, literally in the backcourt. I want to highlight

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Speaker 2: two possessions as example. So mid comeback, it's ninety two

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Speaker 2: to eighty three, early fourth quarter, Kawhi catches on the

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Speaker 2: right wing. Vando rushures the passing lane and forces Kawhi

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Speaker 2: to catch it like thirty feet away from the basket.

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Speaker 2: After he lunges into the passing lane, he sprints right

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Speaker 2: back in front of Kawhi and immediately starts poking at

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Speaker 2: the basketball with both hands. You could literally see him

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Speaker 2: just swiping at the basketball. As he's swiping out the basketball,

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Speaker 2: Kawhi chains together a series of moves and takes a

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Speaker 2: dribble pull up going to his right. As he's going

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Speaker 2: to his right, Vando digs at the ball again as

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Speaker 2: he's gathering and then elevates and gets a great contest

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Speaker 2: and Kawhi barely grazes the left side of the rim.

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Speaker 1: Again.

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Speaker 2: That is an extremely low percentage shot versus when he

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Speaker 2: walked into a foul line jumper in the first half

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Speaker 2: against the drop coverage where the guy gets wiped out

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Speaker 2: on the screen. That's literally going to go in eighty

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Speaker 2: five ninety percent of the time. You have to play

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Speaker 2: these guys into misses by disrupting their rhythm. Ruey has

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Speaker 2: a big stop on Jordan Miller late in the game.

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Speaker 2: Jordan tries to attack him coming off for dribble handoff.

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Speaker 2: Ruie cuts him off. Jordan takes retreat, dribbles, goes all

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Speaker 2: the way out, like forty feet from the basket, almost

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Speaker 2: near half court, and Ruy is up in his jersey

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Speaker 2: the whole time, literally pressuring him forty feet from the rim.

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Speaker 2: Jordan starts to chain together moves and he actually gets

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Speaker 2: to the middle of the floor, and Rui's with him

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Speaker 2: every step of the way because he's not able to

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Speaker 2: cleanly get to his spot because he's poking at the

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Speaker 2: ball and he's bumping him off of his base, and

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Speaker 2: so Jordan is off balance and he's struggling to chain

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Speaker 2: together those moves. He ends up throwing a pass to

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Speaker 2: the corner with the shot clock expiring, and it's another stop.

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Speaker 2: As a team, sparked by Van Do, the Lakers picked

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Speaker 2: up their intensity. They got into the basketball, and they

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Speaker 2: started making the Clippers actually work for everything, and as

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Speaker 2: a result, they started missing shots. It's not a oh

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Speaker 2: they finally cooled off. You made them cool off. And

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Speaker 2: the Lakers are the third best half court offense in

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Speaker 2: the NBA. If they can get stops, they're gonna go

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Speaker 2: on runs because Luca's gonna score and he's gonna generate

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Speaker 2: offense for his team, and it's gonna eventually manifest in

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Speaker 2: the lead shrinking and you getting back into the game,

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Speaker 2: which is exactly what happened. Two point game, middle fourth quarter.

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Speaker 2: The Clippers respond, so Luca hits a step back three,

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Speaker 2: cuts a lead to two, and the Lakers actually had

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Speaker 2: a decent defensive possession. On the next play, Zubot catches

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Speaker 2: in a short role and ends up hitting Chris Donn

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Speaker 2: in the corner. Vando rotates, the whole team is rotating.

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Speaker 2: He swings it up to James Harden on the right wing.

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Speaker 2: Good defense. James ends up like pumping like double pumps

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Speaker 2: on his three. So you did your job. You broke

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Speaker 2: his rhythm and made him take a much lower percentage three,

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Speaker 2: kind of like a double pump three with Marcus Smart

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Speaker 2: on his side. Harden makes the shot, and again, as

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Speaker 2: I talked about, this was a really impressive performance from

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Speaker 2: the Clippers where There even were some possessions where the

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Speaker 2: Lakers did their job and it just wasn't enough. James

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Speaker 2: Harden hits a three that puts the lead back up

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Speaker 2: to five. Marcus Smart misses a wide open corner three.

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Speaker 2: Then Harden ends up drawing multiple defenders driving down the

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Speaker 2: left base line, hits John Collins up top. Lakers rotate,

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Speaker 2: Vando and Lebron are there. That was a beautiful move

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Speaker 2: by John Collins, splitting that double team at the top

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Speaker 2: of the key, and he goes down the lane. Marcus

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Speaker 2: Smart tries to take a charge, doesn't get called, lays

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Speaker 2: it up. Now the lead is seven. Then Lebron misses

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Speaker 2: a three that was the one I told you about

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Speaker 2: where the pass is way off to the right. So

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Speaker 2: great defense from the Clippers forced Lebron into like an

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Speaker 2: out of rhythm three. It misses, Zubats draws a fallon

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Speaker 2: Jackson in the post. Lead gets pushed up to nine,

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Speaker 2: in the game is basically over. So, like I said,

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Speaker 2: really impressive punch from a very good Clippers team. And

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Speaker 2: I was a huge believer in the Clippers before the

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Speaker 2: season started. I said on the show, I thought, out

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Speaker 2: of all the middle tier West teams I thought they

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Speaker 2: were most likely to secure a top three seed. Now

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Speaker 2: obviously they have botched that severely with how poorly they

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Speaker 2: played to start the season, and that was as shocking

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Speaker 2: to me as it was to all of you guys.

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Speaker 2: But now they're looking very much like the team we

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Speaker 2: thought they would be before the season a healthy Kawhi.

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Speaker 2: I'd even argue Kawi has been better than any of

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Speaker 2: us thought he would be. James Harden is still one

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Speaker 2: of the very best offense of engines in the NBA.

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Speaker 2: Zubats is the perfect roleman partner for him in two

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Speaker 2: man game, and he's one of the best two way

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Speaker 2: centers in basketball overall. And they have a depth of

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Speaker 2: quality role player talent assembled by one of the best

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Speaker 2: front offices in the NBA. I'm just hoping that Kawhi's

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Speaker 2: knee holds up. That irritation was concerning. I felt bad

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Speaker 2: for Clippers fans when that report came out, because it's

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Speaker 2: got to suck so bad to just keep having the

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Speaker 2: rug pulled out from underneath you like that.

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Speaker 1: But it was good to see Kawhi back out there.

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Speaker 2: Unlet's just hope he stays healthy so we can see

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Speaker 2: this team compete in the playoffs, They're gonna be a

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Speaker 2: nightmare first round matchup for somebody at the top of

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Speaker 2: the conference that is not a team that is anywhere

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Speaker 2: near as bad as their record looks. They are like

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Speaker 2: they're a better basketball team than the Lakers. Like that,

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Speaker 2: that is a very very good basketball team, and they

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Speaker 2: are going to cause some problems for whoever they match

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Speaker 2: up with at the top of the West. For the Lakers, obviously,

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Speaker 2: there are some personal limitations that prevent them from being

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Speaker 2: a great ball pressure team, but they did demonstrate last

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Speaker 2: night that they can be better than what they've been.

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Speaker 2: I would show that clip of Ruy guarding Jordan Miller

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Speaker 2: and I'd put it in his face and I'd be like, hey, dude,

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Speaker 2: we've seen you do this. This has to be the

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Speaker 2: expectation from now and at least as long as he's

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Speaker 2: still on the team, and then as a team, the

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Speaker 2: Lakers now have had multiple games in a row where

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Speaker 2: they've looked more connected in their defensive rotations, in the

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Speaker 2: Raptors game, in the second half of the Nuggets game

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Speaker 2: last night, in that second half run. Now, it's far

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Speaker 2: from perfect. They haven't been very good in first halves.

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Speaker 2: They're still watching rotations in big spots. Last night, there

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Speaker 2: was a big one late in the game. The Lakers

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Speaker 2: made a little mini run and Zubots ended up getting

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Speaker 2: a dunk underneath the basket because Ruey stepped up and

433
00:21:41,119 --> 00:21:44,120
Speaker 2: Lebron didn't cover for him on the cut from Zubots.

434
00:21:44,119 --> 00:21:46,200
Speaker 2: They were just a step slow in their rotation gave.

435
00:21:46,119 --> 00:21:46,679
Speaker 1: Up a dunk.

436
00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:51,800
Speaker 2: But they can continue to build that connectivity naturally over

437
00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:55,360
Speaker 2: time if they continue to play hard and they continue

438
00:21:55,400 --> 00:21:57,399
Speaker 2: to communicate on that end of the floor. So I

439
00:21:57,440 --> 00:22:00,800
Speaker 2: do think they're starting to make progress, starting to show

440
00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:04,280
Speaker 2: some flashes of higher level defense as a team. In general,

441
00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:07,240
Speaker 2: it's made them more competitive against good teams. You know,

442
00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:09,600
Speaker 2: some of these teams out there that have good records

443
00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:11,960
Speaker 2: have struggled against good teams. The Sixers were about to

444
00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:13,959
Speaker 2: talk about them. They're an example. The Lakers are an

445
00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:17,360
Speaker 2: example of that. They beat two good teams. They beat Toronto,

446
00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:20,960
Speaker 2: they beat Denver, and they were very competitive against the

447
00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:24,120
Speaker 2: Clippers in that run because of their defense.

448
00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:24,679
Speaker 1: So if the.

449
00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:26,800
Speaker 2: Lakers continue to focus on that end of the floor,

450
00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:30,679
Speaker 2: I think the positive results will follow from there. I'm

451
00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:32,879
Speaker 2: super excited to tell you guys about our new partnership

452
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453
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454
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455
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Speaker 1: There's just a level.

456
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484
00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:15,879
Speaker 2: Vintage Joel Embiid Show thirty two, fifteen and ten. I

485
00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:18,640
Speaker 2: did think that the fifteen or the TenniSTAT the ten

486
00:24:18,760 --> 00:24:22,280
Speaker 2: Assists was a very funny stat though, to be clear,

487
00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:24,800
Speaker 2: Joe was fantastic, so I'm not talking shit here, but

488
00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:27,080
Speaker 2: the tennissist was funny because I watched the game and

489
00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:30,000
Speaker 2: I was like this morning, and I was like, Embiid

490
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:33,000
Speaker 2: was fantastic, But I didn't think his playmaking was really

491
00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:35,639
Speaker 2: part of the story at all whatsoever. And so then

492
00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:37,679
Speaker 2: I looked at all the assists on Synergy just to

493
00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:39,920
Speaker 2: see what was getting logged, and most of them were

494
00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:43,080
Speaker 2: literally dribble handoff So like every time MAXI like came

495
00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:44,679
Speaker 2: out a two man game with Embiid and just got

496
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:48,280
Speaker 2: a dribble handoff and like you know, drove past Shangoun

497
00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:50,440
Speaker 2: for a layup, or hit a tough contested mid range

498
00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:52,919
Speaker 2: jump shot, or Paul George hits a three coming off

499
00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,760
Speaker 2: the DHO. Those all got logged as assists for Embiid,

500
00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:57,840
Speaker 2: even though they were like tough shots that were created

501
00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:01,760
Speaker 2: in ball screen, so like pick and roll, noahs DHO assist.

502
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:04,200
Speaker 2: So that was just kind of a funny statistical anomaly.

503
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,600
Speaker 2: But I thought Embiid was fantastic in this game. He

504
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,600
Speaker 2: straight up whooped Albert and Shangun's ass on both ends.

505
00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:12,159
Speaker 1: Of the flour. A lot of work out of the

506
00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:13,520
Speaker 1: post in this game.

507
00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:17,399
Speaker 2: Embiid logged fourteen post ups last night, just bullying his

508
00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:19,159
Speaker 2: way to the front of the rim and drawing fouls.

509
00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:21,400
Speaker 2: A little bit of deja vusu, like you remember when

510
00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:24,680
Speaker 2: back when Embiid was in his absolute prime. He would

511
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:28,119
Speaker 2: draw a foul and like immediately, like right as the

512
00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:31,080
Speaker 2: whistle's getting blown, he just kind of drops the basketball,

513
00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:33,159
Speaker 2: just walks to the foul line, and so like the

514
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,680
Speaker 2: refs in the process of like calling the foul and

515
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:40,040
Speaker 2: the defenders complaining and Embiid's like already standing there by

516
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:41,720
Speaker 2: the foul line. He did that twice last night, which

517
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:42,800
Speaker 2: I thought was funny. It was just kind of like

518
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:44,680
Speaker 2: deja vu from back in the day when Embiid was

519
00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:47,080
Speaker 2: in his prime. But Shane gun was so helpless in

520
00:25:47,119 --> 00:25:50,160
Speaker 2: the post against him that he just kind of started flopping,

521
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:52,720
Speaker 2: like falling over when Embiid would go to his drop step,

522
00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:54,960
Speaker 2: and on the second one, Embid scored and then just

523
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:57,199
Speaker 2: stood over him and stared at him. He had a

524
00:25:57,240 --> 00:26:00,360
Speaker 2: gigantic three at the end of the game, obviously thes

525
00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:02,800
Speaker 2: that was freeing things up for Maxie and Paul George

526
00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:05,119
Speaker 2: Lay in the game. He just looked like a superstar

527
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:08,159
Speaker 2: in this game. Just a really really encouraging performance for

528
00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:11,400
Speaker 2: Sixers fans to see him be continuing to gain momentum

529
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:14,399
Speaker 2: the way that he has been. I thought speed versus

530
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:16,680
Speaker 2: size was very much the story of this game, and again,

531
00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:20,720
Speaker 2: when you talk about basketball matchups, they're not guaranteed to

532
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:23,080
Speaker 2: go one way or another. It's not like if you

533
00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:27,240
Speaker 2: have a size advantage, it's guaranteed to manifest in you

534
00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:30,439
Speaker 2: bullying that team in winning. It's not like if you

535
00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 2: have a speed advantage, you're guaranteed to just run circles

536
00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:38,439
Speaker 2: around an opponent. Very much in each individual case, it

537
00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:43,040
Speaker 2: comes down to which side does a better job of

538
00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:47,400
Speaker 2: inflicting their advantage on their opponent. Does the fast guy

539
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:50,359
Speaker 2: do a better job of using his speed than the

540
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:53,640
Speaker 2: big guy does using his size, or vice versa. Right

541
00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:57,080
Speaker 2: Houston the size advantage. They did a lot of damage

542
00:26:57,080 --> 00:26:59,000
Speaker 2: on the offensive glass in this game. They had fifteen

543
00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,680
Speaker 2: offensive rebounds. They had a twenty one to ten second

544
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:05,000
Speaker 2: chance points advantage. Some absurd offensive rebounds that There was

545
00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:06,840
Speaker 2: one that a men Thompson had on the right block

546
00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,560
Speaker 2: over Kelly Ubray where Kelly's boxing him out. He's got

547
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:14,520
Speaker 2: size and he's a good athlete. He had inside position everything,

548
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:17,679
Speaker 2: and off of a straight vert a men Thompson just

549
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:20,280
Speaker 2: elevated over the top of him and snatched the rebound

550
00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:22,119
Speaker 2: away from him. As one of the most impressive athletic

551
00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:24,000
Speaker 2: plays that I saw in that game last night. Just

552
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:29,000
Speaker 2: a ridiculous offensive rebounder A men Thompson isn't just in

553
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:33,800
Speaker 2: general as an athlete anyway. Houston inflicted their size in

554
00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:37,600
Speaker 2: the form of their advantage on the offensive glass, but overall,

555
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:42,800
Speaker 2: Philly speed won the day. I'm at Tyrese. Maxi absolutely

556
00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:44,720
Speaker 2: torched Houston at the point of attack, and it was

557
00:27:44,720 --> 00:27:47,199
Speaker 2: fascinating to see the different ways that he did it

558
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:49,359
Speaker 2: because some of it was in ball screens. Like one

559
00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:51,400
Speaker 2: of the issues that Houston was having in this game

560
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:54,000
Speaker 2: was they were bringing Shangoun up to the level in

561
00:27:54,119 --> 00:27:56,400
Speaker 2: ball screens to meet Maxie as he was coming off

562
00:27:56,400 --> 00:27:59,320
Speaker 2: the screen, but he was losing contained so Maxi was

563
00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:02,360
Speaker 2: just literally going going around him in his high drop coverage.

564
00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:04,359
Speaker 2: And again that's a big no no in high drop,

565
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:06,680
Speaker 2: like when you're up there at the level, you gotta

566
00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:09,520
Speaker 2: contain the ball, like you were giving up a four

567
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:12,320
Speaker 2: on three on purpose. You're allowing the roller to get

568
00:28:12,359 --> 00:28:16,679
Speaker 2: behind on purpose with the intention that those two defenders,

569
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:19,320
Speaker 2: the on ball guy and the high dropper can at

570
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:22,040
Speaker 2: least force the ball handler to give up the basketball.

571
00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:25,160
Speaker 2: But if he comes around and turns the corner, you're

572
00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:28,399
Speaker 2: screwed because now you literally have two defenders out of

573
00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:31,560
Speaker 2: the play and the ball handler screaming downhill and there's

574
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:34,239
Speaker 2: no rim protection there. And so Maxi was able to

575
00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 2: like turn that corner on Shanngun several times throughout the game,

576
00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:40,280
Speaker 2: including in crunch time. That was a big way that

577
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:42,880
Speaker 2: he was getting to the basket. The second piece of

578
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:45,280
Speaker 2: it was like straight ISOs. It was crazy down the stretch.

579
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:48,440
Speaker 2: He wasn't even bothering with ball screens, just straight line

580
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:51,040
Speaker 2: drives against his man off the top, either in transition

581
00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:52,160
Speaker 2: or just in ISOs.

582
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:52,560
Speaker 1: And like.

583
00:28:54,160 --> 00:28:57,000
Speaker 2: He had so many of these speed attacks for layups

584
00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:59,440
Speaker 2: in just a short period of time in crunch time,

585
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,600
Speaker 2: it was amazing. So all of these were over the

586
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:05,880
Speaker 2: final four minutes of regulation in overtime, so entirely in

587
00:29:05,920 --> 00:29:09,200
Speaker 2: the clutch, nine total minutes of basketball spanning the last

588
00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:12,000
Speaker 2: four minutes of regulation in overtime. Beats Shane Goun and

589
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,480
Speaker 2: a high drop layup, beats Jabari on a dribble hand

590
00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:19,000
Speaker 2: off with him, beat layup, and one in transition he

591
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:23,640
Speaker 2: just runs right by Reed Shepherd layup transition with Kadi

592
00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:25,720
Speaker 2: and Reed Shepherd in front of him. This is off

593
00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:27,480
Speaker 2: that huge Paul George Steele that will get to in

594
00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:31,640
Speaker 2: a minute layup semi transition with Tarry Easton in front

595
00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:33,400
Speaker 2: of him, hits the Jets, goes right by him to

596
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:39,280
Speaker 2: his right, layup. Five layups in crunch time off the dribble,

597
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,680
Speaker 2: completely insane and by the way, that doesn't count the

598
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,880
Speaker 2: play at the end of regulation where he goes straight

599
00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:50,280
Speaker 2: ISO against Amn Thompson, arguably the best athlete in the

600
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:54,560
Speaker 2: entire NBA one on one off the top, blows by

601
00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:57,880
Speaker 2: him with no issue and gets clearly goaltended on the

602
00:29:57,880 --> 00:29:59,840
Speaker 2: game winner. It just doesn't get called. We shouldn't even

603
00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:04,880
Speaker 2: have overtime. So basically, six layups over the course of

604
00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:09,120
Speaker 2: nine minutes of crunch time basketball when the entire defense

605
00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,320
Speaker 2: knows you're the guy who's looking to score and what

606
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:14,360
Speaker 2: you like to do and how you like to do it,

607
00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:21,320
Speaker 2: and they were completely helpless. Tyre Tyre's Maxiy's speed is

608
00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:23,960
Speaker 2: a superpower and it won the day to day. Just

609
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:26,600
Speaker 2: an absolute show put on by him. Paul George wasn't

610
00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:28,640
Speaker 2: super involved in the offense last night, but I thought

611
00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:30,880
Speaker 2: he made several important plays. He had a wonderable pull

612
00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:33,520
Speaker 2: up driving a close out to end the third quarter.

613
00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:36,400
Speaker 2: Really big shot and that spot hit a huge corner

614
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:39,680
Speaker 2: three off of kind of a jumbled Embiid possession where

615
00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:41,400
Speaker 2: he fell on the ground and ended up finding Paul

616
00:30:41,440 --> 00:30:43,360
Speaker 2: George in the corner. That cut the lead to two

617
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:46,760
Speaker 2: with two minutes left in regulation, and to start overtime.

618
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:48,880
Speaker 2: That first bucket of overtime is always so important to

619
00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:50,800
Speaker 2: kind of take some of the pressure off. Came off

620
00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,680
Speaker 2: of a dribble handoff with Embiid deep drop coverage, just

621
00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:55,600
Speaker 2: settled into an easy little pull up three at the

622
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:57,520
Speaker 2: top of the key and knocked it down put the

623
00:30:57,520 --> 00:30:59,080
Speaker 2: Sixers up three. He's a really big shot. And then

624
00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 2: I thought he was great on defense all night. He

625
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:03,120
Speaker 2: at three steals one of the biggest plays in the game. Late,

626
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:06,000
Speaker 2: so Sixers are down by two, there's less than a

627
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,120
Speaker 2: minute left in regulation. Houston has the ball. Kd's trying

628
00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:10,960
Speaker 2: to make a high post entry on the left elbow

629
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:13,560
Speaker 2: there to Shangoon and Paul George just kind of gets

630
00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:16,720
Speaker 2: up underneath him in three quarter fronts. KD throws the

631
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,680
Speaker 2: pass just a little too low, Paul George beats Shangun

632
00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:21,680
Speaker 2: to the ball, forces the turnover. That's the one that

633
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:24,760
Speaker 2: got pushed to Maxie, and Maxie splits Reed Shepherd and

634
00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:27,280
Speaker 2: Kevin Durant for the transition layup that tied the game.

635
00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:30,479
Speaker 2: Just a massive play in this game, and like the

636
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:33,840
Speaker 2: perfect version of Paul George for this team is a

637
00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:37,920
Speaker 2: locked in defender that attacks within an advantage on offense,

638
00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:40,200
Speaker 2: like just kind of playing with the advantages created by

639
00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:43,880
Speaker 2: the Stars while also occasionally looking to run some action

640
00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:46,120
Speaker 2: with the ball him naturally works its way to him.

641
00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:48,360
Speaker 2: Like that is the type of role that he can

642
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,640
Speaker 2: still be very good in at his age, that weak

643
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:55,120
Speaker 2: side scoring forward that focuses on the defense. That was

644
00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:57,680
Speaker 2: a perfect example of that last night from Paul George.

645
00:31:57,680 --> 00:31:58,880
Speaker 2: And then the last guy I wanted to shout out

646
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:02,080
Speaker 2: was Kelly youu bray. He put up twenty six points

647
00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:04,760
Speaker 2: entirely in the flow of the offense. He had four

648
00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:06,720
Speaker 2: of his five threes. One was a transition pull up,

649
00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:08,000
Speaker 2: but he was wide open when he took it. I

650
00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:10,160
Speaker 2: was cool with the shot. He was feeling good too.

651
00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:13,320
Speaker 2: The rest of his finishes were just like like off

652
00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:15,440
Speaker 2: the from the three point line, we're just catching shoots

653
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:17,800
Speaker 2: just in the flow. And then he was mixing in

654
00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:20,000
Speaker 2: these semi transition drives, and this has become a little

655
00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:21,680
Speaker 2: bit more and more of his game over the last

656
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:24,040
Speaker 2: few years. But when the defense is a little loose

657
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,360
Speaker 2: and they're kind of in the middle of shifting ends

658
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 2: of the floor and he catches on the wing or

659
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:31,280
Speaker 2: he's dribbling the ball up the wing, he'll just hit

660
00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:34,360
Speaker 2: the jets in attack a gap or attack a smaller

661
00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:36,200
Speaker 2: defender in front of him, and he'll just get right

662
00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:37,280
Speaker 2: to the front of the rim that way, and he

663
00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:39,760
Speaker 2: can generate quite a bit of offense in the flow

664
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:42,520
Speaker 2: that way without having to have, you know, sets run

665
00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:44,840
Speaker 2: for him, so to speak. Like he's averaging twenty two

666
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:47,120
Speaker 2: points per game over his last three games, fifty six

667
00:32:47,160 --> 00:32:50,880
Speaker 2: percent from the field, eleven for eighteen from three. I

668
00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:52,560
Speaker 2: just thought it was a really nice win for the Sixers,

669
00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 2: a much needed win for them against a good team,

670
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:56,960
Speaker 2: which has been an issue for them this season. They're

671
00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:59,680
Speaker 2: just ten and sixteen after last night against teams that

672
00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,040
Speaker 2: are five hundred are better. One thing that I want

673
00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:04,840
Speaker 2: to see more though, is just that lineup that Maxi,

674
00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:08,160
Speaker 2: Paul George, Joel Embiid with Kelly Ubray and VJ Edge

675
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:09,920
Speaker 2: comb lineup. We haven't seen it much this year because

676
00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:12,880
Speaker 2: the injuries. They've only played fifty one possessions. But they're

677
00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:16,760
Speaker 2: plus ten point four net in those fifty one possessions

678
00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:20,040
Speaker 2: with those guys. So now that everyone's healthy, I want

679
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:22,320
Speaker 2: to see a lot more of that particular lineup. They're

680
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:24,320
Speaker 2: scoring the shit out of the basketball. They're at like

681
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:27,240
Speaker 2: a one to twenty six offensive rating. That team hasn't

682
00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:30,160
Speaker 2: that lineup hasn't defended especially well, but they've done okay

683
00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:32,680
Speaker 2: in general. We didn't even talk about this as a

684
00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:36,160
Speaker 2: manifestation of their speed, but their their guards and the

685
00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:38,479
Speaker 2: work that they do getting up into the basketball. They

686
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:40,600
Speaker 2: forced Houston into a lot of turnovers last night and

687
00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:43,120
Speaker 2: they ended up getting like twenty four points off of turnovers.

688
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:45,680
Speaker 2: And even Maxie plays into this, and I've been critical

689
00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:48,240
Speaker 2: of him sometimes when he's passive on defense off the ball,

690
00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:49,520
Speaker 2: where he's kind of floating around.

691
00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:51,240
Speaker 1: He can get back cut, he can leave shooters.

692
00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:54,160
Speaker 2: But when he's like active and swarming, and you know,

693
00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:56,840
Speaker 2: Quintin Grimes is swarming and VJ. Edgecomb is swarming, and

694
00:33:56,880 --> 00:33:59,360
Speaker 2: they have all that speed on the perimeter flying around,

695
00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:01,880
Speaker 2: they can kind of be disruptive of the basketball in

696
00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:04,240
Speaker 2: their own way and force turnovers and get out and transition.

697
00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:07,000
Speaker 2: That was a big part of their win last night too.

698
00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:13,520
Speaker 2: All right, let's get into our mail bag, and this

699
00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:14,879
Speaker 2: is gonna be a little bit different of a mail

700
00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:18,840
Speaker 2: bag today. So I'm actually only gonna hit two fake questions.

701
00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:23,799
Speaker 2: If you submitted questions, don't worry. So just a little

702
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,239
Speaker 2: schedule update. I have some friends coming into town to

703
00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:29,840
Speaker 2: ski next week, God willing they get some snow. Allegedly,

704
00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:32,880
Speaker 2: breckon Ridge, it's ten degrees in Denver right now. Allegedly

705
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:34,839
Speaker 2: breck and Ridge is gonna get seven to nine inches

706
00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:36,480
Speaker 2: of snow over the next couple days, So hopefully my

707
00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:38,799
Speaker 2: friends don't waste their entire trip coming up here to ski.

708
00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:39,920
Speaker 1: But what we're gonna do.

709
00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:43,160
Speaker 2: We're gonna have our normal power rankings on Monday, and

710
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 2: then I'm gonna have some game reactions on Friday, so

711
00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:47,239
Speaker 2: those will be kind of normal shows. But I'm gonna

712
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:49,880
Speaker 2: have some pre recorded episodes that are gonna run on Tuesday, Wednesday,

713
00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:53,000
Speaker 2: Thursday next week. Tuesday is gonna be the Western Conference

714
00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:55,759
Speaker 2: trade preview thing, kind of like what we did with

715
00:34:55,800 --> 00:34:57,799
Speaker 2: the Eastern Conference yesterday. We're gonna do that with the

716
00:34:57,800 --> 00:35:01,840
Speaker 2: west Tuesday is gonna be a mail with your questions.

717
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,160
Speaker 2: So today's episode, because I'm gonna record this tomorrow, Today's

718
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:07,439
Speaker 2: episode will be your last chance to get real mail

719
00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:09,520
Speaker 2: bag questions in. I'm gonna record it tomorrow. It'll run

720
00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:12,719
Speaker 2: next week on Wednesday. Then on Thursday, Kevin O'Connor is

721
00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:15,279
Speaker 2: kind enough to be joining the show to do our

722
00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:18,719
Speaker 2: monthly contender rankings, so we'll do an update on the

723
00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:21,720
Speaker 2: contender rankings. We'll get Kevin's perspective on everything as well.

724
00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:23,759
Speaker 2: Those are the episodes we're running next week, So for

725
00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:27,000
Speaker 2: real mail bag questions, keep dropping them. I'm recording them tomorrow.

726
00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:29,000
Speaker 2: They're gonna run on Wednesday. But I wanted to hit

727
00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:32,080
Speaker 2: two fake questions because I got one pitch to me

728
00:35:32,120 --> 00:35:34,680
Speaker 2: by a buddy that I think is interesting. And then

729
00:35:34,680 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 2: I wanted to hit on this Genie Bus Lebron report

730
00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:41,759
Speaker 2: from Baxter Holmes. So let's talk quickly about the Let's

731
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,359
Speaker 2: get to our first fake mail bag question. What do

732
00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,800
Speaker 2: I make of the Baxter Holmes report about Genie Bus

733
00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:52,319
Speaker 2: and Lebron? And I really only have two takes, one

734
00:35:52,840 --> 00:35:57,399
Speaker 2: the Westbrook trade. This always gets frustrating for me. Do

735
00:35:57,480 --> 00:36:01,720
Speaker 2: I think that the Westbrook trade technically, if you really

736
00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:06,040
Speaker 2: get into it, has multiple like people that were involved

737
00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:09,680
Speaker 2: in the idea. Of course, Do I think Lebron and

738
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:13,600
Speaker 2: Rich Paul played a role in that discussion? I read

739
00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:16,920
Speaker 2: a book this summer that kind of dove into this idea,

740
00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:20,440
Speaker 2: and yeah, like, it wasn't actually originally Russ. They were

741
00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:23,680
Speaker 2: looking at some different guys first, but it didn't pan out,

742
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:26,880
Speaker 2: and Russ was basically like their third option. But it

743
00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:32,040
Speaker 2: was kind of a collaborative thing between ownership, the front office,

744
00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:33,320
Speaker 2: and Lebron in his camp.

745
00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:34,880
Speaker 1: That is true.

746
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:41,160
Speaker 2: However, leadership is about taking responsibility when the buck stops,

747
00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:45,279
Speaker 2: when the buck stops with you. So, for example, your

748
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:49,719
Speaker 2: job as a front off, as a general manager, is

749
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:53,680
Speaker 2: going to be putting together the basketball team. You will

750
00:36:53,719 --> 00:36:57,600
Speaker 2: take feedback from a variety of different sources, right, your

751
00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:03,960
Speaker 2: assistant general managers, your scouting departments, your pro personnel, your

752
00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:08,479
Speaker 2: draft scouts, your European scouts. They're all gonna have opinions, right,

753
00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:11,680
Speaker 2: and then the players on the team will have opinions. Yeah, yeah,

754
00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:13,360
Speaker 2: I think you should sit down and have a conversation

755
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:16,799
Speaker 2: with your superstars. Hey, Luca, what kind of player do

756
00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:19,440
Speaker 2: you think we need? Hey, Lebron, what type of player

757
00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:22,520
Speaker 2: do you think we need? All of that is true

758
00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:26,120
Speaker 2: and part of the responsibility of the general manager to

759
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:30,600
Speaker 2: consume all of that feedback, all of that advice, all

760
00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:35,720
Speaker 2: of that information, But ultimately it's your job to filter

761
00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:39,799
Speaker 2: through that what you think is a good idea or

762
00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:44,560
Speaker 2: a bad idea. Russell Westbrook was a bad fit with

763
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:50,200
Speaker 2: the Lakers. Everybody knew it before it happened. This was

764
00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:53,360
Speaker 2: not an example of a case where Russell Westbrook was

765
00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:56,799
Speaker 2: traded to the Lakers. Everyone was like, hell, yeah, we

766
00:37:56,840 --> 00:37:59,719
Speaker 2: got Russell Westbrook. And then it went south and then

767
00:37:59,719 --> 00:38:01,360
Speaker 2: every was like, ah, man, that sucks.

768
00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:01,920
Speaker 1: No, no, no.

769
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:06,000
Speaker 2: Right away, when instead of Malik Monk, excuse it was

770
00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:08,480
Speaker 2: Malik Monkey And when instead of Buddy Healed and Miles

771
00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:13,279
Speaker 2: Turner and ended up being Russell Westbrook, everyone was like, oh, no,

772
00:38:13,640 --> 00:38:18,120
Speaker 2: this is a terrible idea. And so again, if Lebron

773
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:21,279
Speaker 2: comes to you and goes, yeah, you know, I want

774
00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:22,680
Speaker 2: to play with another playmaker.

775
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:26,960
Speaker 1: I want to get Russell Westbrook, and.

776
00:38:26,840 --> 00:38:30,640
Speaker 2: You go, yeah, well he's got a pretty large salary,

777
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:33,880
Speaker 2: so we're gonna have to send out some good players,

778
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:36,600
Speaker 2: some highly paid players in order to make that happen.

779
00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:40,799
Speaker 2: And Lebron goes, yeah, well we really need his playmaking.

780
00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:45,800
Speaker 2: You go like, all right, I appreciate you know your

781
00:38:46,040 --> 00:38:49,160
Speaker 2: thought process. Here, we'll take a look at it. And

782
00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:51,480
Speaker 2: then ultimately you go back to him if he asks

783
00:38:51,480 --> 00:38:53,640
Speaker 2: one day, and you go, I just didn't think it

784
00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:58,680
Speaker 2: was gonna be worthwhile to give up Kyle Kuzma, Coentavious Calwell,

785
00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:02,080
Speaker 2: Pope and the financial constraints that would lead to us

786
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:06,239
Speaker 2: letting Alex Crusoe walk. This isn't gonna work out. I

787
00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:09,280
Speaker 2: don't want to go this direction. You are the leader,

788
00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:12,400
Speaker 2: you are the general manager. It is your job to

789
00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:15,600
Speaker 2: build the basketball team. It is your job to filter

790
00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:19,600
Speaker 2: the opinions from the assistant general managers, from the scouts,

791
00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:25,000
Speaker 2: from the stars, from the owner. It's your job. And

792
00:39:25,080 --> 00:39:29,440
Speaker 2: so ultimately the responsibility falls with Rob Polinka because he

793
00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:33,720
Speaker 2: is the leader. If you want me to say Lebron

794
00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:38,160
Speaker 2: had a bad idea to go try to get Russell Westbrook,

795
00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:40,880
Speaker 2: I would agree with you Lebron had a bad idea.

796
00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:46,160
Speaker 2: Lebron was wrong. But it's not Lebron's job to build

797
00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:49,600
Speaker 2: the basketball team. He can apply influence, like, for instance,

798
00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:51,520
Speaker 2: when Lebron comes to you and goes, hey, I got

799
00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:54,640
Speaker 2: my guys at Clutch. They're working on Anthony Davis. Anthony

800
00:39:54,719 --> 00:39:57,600
Speaker 2: Davis is my buddy. He wants to come play with us.

801
00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:00,000
Speaker 2: You look at Lebron and you're like, fuck, yeah, Lebron,

802
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:03,400
Speaker 2: that's a great idea. Let's go get Anthony Davis. But

803
00:40:03,480 --> 00:40:05,440
Speaker 2: when he says I want to trade all of our

804
00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:08,239
Speaker 2: role player wings for Russell Westbrook, you look at him

805
00:40:08,239 --> 00:40:11,520
Speaker 2: and you go, I don't agree. Let me see if

806
00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:14,600
Speaker 2: I can come up with something different. That's your job,

807
00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:18,120
Speaker 2: that's the general manager, and so I just think it's

808
00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:22,879
Speaker 2: ridiculous to retroactively try to apply blame in the form

809
00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:27,240
Speaker 2: of Genie bus who in the report is allegedly upset

810
00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:30,279
Speaker 2: that Lebron didn't take more blame for what happened with

811
00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:35,880
Speaker 2: Russell Westbrook. You're mad that your general manager made a

812
00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:40,240
Speaker 2: trade that sabotaged the team, and you want to blame

813
00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:44,920
Speaker 2: a player for it. Do you understand how ridiculous you sound?

814
00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:49,560
Speaker 2: And that ultimately has been the issue from the top

815
00:40:49,640 --> 00:40:52,719
Speaker 2: down with the Lakers, a lack of an a lack

816
00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:57,040
Speaker 2: of accountability. The second piece of this that I want

817
00:40:57,080 --> 00:41:00,320
Speaker 2: to get into is the idea of Lebron saving the Lakes.

818
00:41:02,200 --> 00:41:06,319
Speaker 2: Genie Buss was in the report upset that that was

819
00:41:06,360 --> 00:41:11,239
Speaker 2: the narrative that Lebron saved the Lakers. And there is

820
00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:15,440
Speaker 2: such an extensive track record leading into the Lebron James

821
00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:19,680
Speaker 2: era and even within the Lebron James era that makes

822
00:41:19,719 --> 00:41:24,799
Speaker 2: it so abundantly clear that he saved the Lakers. Then

823
00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:28,239
Speaker 2: I don't understand why this is even a conversation. They

824
00:41:28,280 --> 00:41:32,240
Speaker 2: were quite literally the worst team in the entire NBA

825
00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:37,759
Speaker 2: from the time when Jerry Buss passed away to the

826
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:41,640
Speaker 2: time that Lebron James signed with the Lakers. All of

827
00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:45,200
Speaker 2: the guys that got traded for Anthony Davis are all

828
00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:48,800
Speaker 2: just journeymen around the NBA. None of them has turned

829
00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:53,799
Speaker 2: into a bona fide foundational piece for anyone. There was

830
00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:58,799
Speaker 2: nothing there. Lebron chose the Lakers because he wanted to

831
00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:02,759
Speaker 2: live in Los Angeles and he wanted to play for

832
00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:08,200
Speaker 2: historical franchise. There was nothing that Genie or Rob or

833
00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:12,480
Speaker 2: Magic Johnson or anybody in that franchise did to get

834
00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:15,319
Speaker 2: Lebron to choose the Lakers other than the work that

835
00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:18,719
Speaker 2: Jerry Buss had done for decades prior to establish the

836
00:42:18,840 --> 00:42:21,640
Speaker 2: environment that made sense for Lebron to come back. He

837
00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:26,440
Speaker 2: chose you because of the Lakers, not because of anything

838
00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:30,319
Speaker 2: going on in upper management. And this is really the

839
00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:32,239
Speaker 2: main thing that I want to get at. When you

840
00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:36,600
Speaker 2: own a team, it's very cool that you get to

841
00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:39,520
Speaker 2: own a professional basketball team. I think about all of

842
00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:43,360
Speaker 2: what a fun experience that would be to just be

843
00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:48,480
Speaker 2: in charge completely ultimately of an NBA franchise. That sounds

844
00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:55,520
Speaker 2: like a ton of fun. Billionaires don't win championships. Basketball

845
00:42:55,600 --> 00:43:02,080
Speaker 2: people win championships. The billionaires who do win championships are

846
00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:07,840
Speaker 2: the ones who trust basketball people. The biggest mistake that

847
00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:10,880
Speaker 2: Jeanie Buss has made in her tenure as owner of

848
00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:15,560
Speaker 2: the Lakers is she has leaned on her personal circle

849
00:43:15,640 --> 00:43:20,400
Speaker 2: of friends and confidence to run the team instead of

850
00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:23,760
Speaker 2: approaching it from the perspective of finding the very best

851
00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:29,759
Speaker 2: basketball people to run the team. Every time She's had

852
00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:33,719
Speaker 2: an opportunity to lean on something that made her comfortable,

853
00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:36,759
Speaker 2: whether it was a family friend in Magic Johnson, or

854
00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:39,880
Speaker 2: a family friend in Rob Polinka, or a family friend

855
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:45,320
Speaker 2: in Kurt Rambis, anybody that fit into Genie's comfort zone.

856
00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:52,240
Speaker 2: She leaned on to run a professional basketball team, Whereas

857
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:55,080
Speaker 2: you look elsewhere in the league and the franchises that

858
00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:59,480
Speaker 2: succeed are the billionaires that go I'm not a basketball person,

859
00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:03,520
Speaker 2: and I'm certainly not gonna lean just on my buddies

860
00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:07,880
Speaker 2: to do this. I'm gonna go find the best basketball

861
00:44:07,920 --> 00:44:11,160
Speaker 2: people I can find and put them in position to

862
00:44:11,280 --> 00:44:14,759
Speaker 2: make the decisions that build this basketball team into a

863
00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:21,000
Speaker 2: perennial championship contender. Genie Buss wanting credit for getting Lebron

864
00:44:21,600 --> 00:44:25,920
Speaker 2: is the problem. Genie Bus being unwilling to acknowledge that

865
00:44:26,080 --> 00:44:30,560
Speaker 2: the basketball person that is Lebron is responsible for the

866
00:44:30,600 --> 00:44:34,680
Speaker 2: turnaround of the franchise. That is the problem. She should

867
00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:37,719
Speaker 2: be looking at the Lebron situation and going, when I

868
00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:44,200
Speaker 2: trusted this basketball person to run the show, we brought

869
00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:47,960
Speaker 2: a championship team, a championship to a team that had

870
00:44:48,080 --> 00:44:52,239
Speaker 2: literally been the worst team in basketball from when my

871
00:44:52,320 --> 00:44:56,720
Speaker 2: father died to when Lebron came. If she had trusted

872
00:44:56,760 --> 00:44:59,560
Speaker 2: another basketball person, if she had gone around and found

873
00:44:59,600 --> 00:45:03,400
Speaker 2: a bast basketball expert to run the team and filter

874
00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:07,640
Speaker 2: Lebron's ideas, now you would have had the greatness of

875
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:11,200
Speaker 2: Lebron plus a GM who would have said yes to

876
00:45:11,239 --> 00:45:18,640
Speaker 2: Anthony Davis, yes to Alex Caruso, no to Russell Westbrook,

877
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:25,000
Speaker 2: no to Jalen hood S Chaffino. There is the lack

878
00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:29,960
Speaker 2: of having multiple examples of that level of expertise throughout

879
00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:33,600
Speaker 2: every layer of the franchise is why this has gone

880
00:45:33,600 --> 00:45:36,040
Speaker 2: the way that it's gone. So I just thought it

881
00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:37,759
Speaker 2: was funny when I read that article, because I'm like, Oh,

882
00:45:37,960 --> 00:45:41,319
Speaker 2: Genie just doesn't get it. She didn't get it. She

883
00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:48,440
Speaker 2: thinks this is about her. The Lakers are a basketball team, Genie,

884
00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:52,799
Speaker 2: you are not a basketball person. Don't trust friends, don't

885
00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:55,959
Speaker 2: trust family. Go get basketball people to run the team,

886
00:45:56,400 --> 00:45:59,080
Speaker 2: and the successful follow because the franchise does bring a

887
00:45:59,120 --> 00:46:01,720
Speaker 2: lot to the table in terms of history and location

888
00:46:02,360 --> 00:46:05,719
Speaker 2: and extra off court earning opportunities and everything that can

889
00:46:05,760 --> 00:46:09,959
Speaker 2: bolster what that team likes to do. All right, last

890
00:46:09,960 --> 00:46:11,960
Speaker 2: mail back question before we get out of here today.

891
00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:17,880
Speaker 2: Who botched their title defense more spectacularly? The twenty twenty

892
00:46:17,960 --> 00:46:22,000
Speaker 2: Lakers are the twenty twenty two Warriors. So the twenty

893
00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:25,840
Speaker 2: twenty Lakers obviously were officially blown up with the Anthony

894
00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:29,000
Speaker 2: Davis to Luke donc trade last year in February and

895
00:46:29,080 --> 00:46:32,560
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty two Warriors were officially done with the

896
00:46:32,680 --> 00:46:36,120
Speaker 2: Jimmy Butler acl tair that happened a couple of nights ago,

897
00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:39,800
Speaker 2: And so I think at this point they're like the Lakers.

898
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:42,000
Speaker 2: I don't know where I'll put them, either second or

899
00:46:42,000 --> 00:46:44,200
Speaker 2: third tier. Probably third tier contenders still when I record

900
00:46:44,239 --> 00:46:47,279
Speaker 2: with Kevin O'Connor coming up in the next couple of days,

901
00:46:47,280 --> 00:46:49,640
Speaker 2: but like, I don't view them as a contender. And

902
00:46:49,719 --> 00:46:51,520
Speaker 2: by the time they will, Lebron will be gone, so

903
00:46:51,560 --> 00:46:53,719
Speaker 2: it'll basically be a totally different team. And for the

904
00:46:53,719 --> 00:46:55,839
Speaker 2: twenty twenty two Warriors, I mean, I hope they make

905
00:46:55,840 --> 00:46:57,160
Speaker 2: a trade, and I hope they go for something, and

906
00:46:57,200 --> 00:46:59,520
Speaker 2: I saw a report they want Giannis and Lebron next summer,

907
00:46:59,520 --> 00:47:01,800
Speaker 2: and you know who the hell knows what's gonna happen,

908
00:47:01,840 --> 00:47:04,400
Speaker 2: but they right now look too far away, and so

909
00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:07,440
Speaker 2: the eras look effectively done for both teams. But this

910
00:47:07,560 --> 00:47:10,400
Speaker 2: answer to this question to me is actually very simple,

911
00:47:10,640 --> 00:47:14,680
Speaker 2: and it's the twenty twenty Lakers blew it far more spectacularly.

912
00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:18,880
Speaker 2: And the fundamental difference between the two situations was the

913
00:47:18,920 --> 00:47:24,839
Speaker 2: twenty twenty Lakers were a dominant championship team that had

914
00:47:24,880 --> 00:47:27,080
Speaker 2: two of the top five players in the world at

915
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:28,840
Speaker 2: the time. That was the level that Anthony Davis was

916
00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:32,800
Speaker 2: playing at, and they had a proven identity that worked

917
00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:35,520
Speaker 2: that if they continued to lean into, would have inevitably

918
00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:36,880
Speaker 2: led to sustained success.

919
00:47:37,960 --> 00:47:39,719
Speaker 1: The Warriors, as a.

920
00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:45,720
Speaker 2: Counter example, what happened with them was they had a

921
00:47:45,760 --> 00:47:50,800
Speaker 2: weaker championship team. Steph was the only superstar. The second

922
00:47:50,840 --> 00:47:55,600
Speaker 2: best player was some combination of Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole, right,

923
00:47:55,719 --> 00:48:00,000
Speaker 2: two guys that are journeymen around the NBA. Now, you

924
00:48:00,120 --> 00:48:02,560
Speaker 2: had a good defense, a good coaching staff, you know,

925
00:48:02,680 --> 00:48:05,520
Speaker 2: a continuity within your core. There were strengths on that team.

926
00:48:05,520 --> 00:48:08,120
Speaker 2: They were a legitimate champion. But no one looks at

927
00:48:08,160 --> 00:48:10,000
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty two Warriors the way they look at

928
00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:13,480
Speaker 2: the twenty eighteen Warriors, or the twenty seventeen Warriors, or

929
00:48:13,480 --> 00:48:16,720
Speaker 2: even the twenty fifteen Warriors. Nobody looks at that team

930
00:48:16,760 --> 00:48:21,640
Speaker 2: as like overwhelming talent. And the mistake that Joe Lakea

931
00:48:21,719 --> 00:48:25,839
Speaker 2: made with that team was when they had an opportunity

932
00:48:26,440 --> 00:48:29,319
Speaker 2: to bring that level of talent in by cashing in

933
00:48:29,400 --> 00:48:32,200
Speaker 2: some of their younger talent, he refused to do so,

934
00:48:32,719 --> 00:48:35,319
Speaker 2: the younger talent didn't pan out, and then they had

935
00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:40,520
Speaker 2: a talent issue. The twenty twenty Lakers quite literally tore

936
00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:44,280
Speaker 2: a part a championship team because they lost a playoff

937
00:48:44,320 --> 00:48:47,040
Speaker 2: series against the Phoenix Suns where their best or second

938
00:48:47,080 --> 00:48:49,120
Speaker 2: best player, depending on how you feel, Aad and Lebron

939
00:48:49,120 --> 00:48:53,720
Speaker 2: at that point in time pulled his groin eighty polled

940
00:48:53,760 --> 00:48:56,560
Speaker 2: his groin when they were up to one in the series.

941
00:48:58,160 --> 00:49:01,560
Speaker 2: They very easily would have won the championship that year

942
00:49:01,600 --> 00:49:04,719
Speaker 2: if Ad could have stayed healthy and repeat it. They

943
00:49:04,760 --> 00:49:10,120
Speaker 2: had plenty of talent to have sustained success, and they

944
00:49:10,120 --> 00:49:14,480
Speaker 2: broke the team apart because Lebron and Rob and all

945
00:49:14,520 --> 00:49:17,960
Speaker 2: of them had a bad idea and the leader, Rob Polinka,

946
00:49:18,120 --> 00:49:20,320
Speaker 2: was unwilling to step in and be like, this is

947
00:49:20,360 --> 00:49:25,880
Speaker 2: a bad idea that to me is more spectacular in

948
00:49:26,040 --> 00:49:29,680
Speaker 2: terms of failure to have something that works and to

949
00:49:29,760 --> 00:49:32,279
Speaker 2: rip it apart. In twenty twenty two, those of you

950
00:49:32,320 --> 00:49:33,919
Speaker 2: guys who listened to the show that was the very

951
00:49:33,960 --> 00:49:36,560
Speaker 2: first few months of Hoops Tonight. If you guys remember

952
00:49:36,600 --> 00:49:40,759
Speaker 2: that playoff, run I was advocating for them, training Kaminga

953
00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:45,759
Speaker 2: and Wiseman then I was like, I don't see any

954
00:49:45,800 --> 00:49:49,400
Speaker 2: of these guys as like long term superstar level prospects.

955
00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:55,000
Speaker 2: I think your margins are pretty small. I think that

956
00:49:55,360 --> 00:49:57,640
Speaker 2: you can win a championship this year, but it's going

957
00:49:57,719 --> 00:50:01,400
Speaker 2: to be tight if you cash these dudes in for

958
00:50:01,480 --> 00:50:04,160
Speaker 2: something that increases the talent level in your Because none

959
00:50:04,200 --> 00:50:06,400
Speaker 2: of those guys were playing. Wiseman was out of the rotation,

960
00:50:06,680 --> 00:50:09,160
Speaker 2: Moody was out of the rotation, Kamingos out of the rotation.

961
00:50:09,239 --> 00:50:12,279
Speaker 2: They were all out of the rotation in twenty twenty two,

962
00:50:14,440 --> 00:50:17,799
Speaker 2: so they were getting nothing out of those guys. I

963
00:50:17,880 --> 00:50:19,799
Speaker 2: figured if you could turn one of them into a

964
00:50:19,920 --> 00:50:23,760
Speaker 2: high level starting a starting upgrader six to seventh man,

965
00:50:24,080 --> 00:50:25,480
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, I think you had a better

966
00:50:25,560 --> 00:50:28,400
Speaker 2: chance to win the title. What happened was because they won,

967
00:50:29,360 --> 00:50:33,680
Speaker 2: Lacub felt validated in his perspective, and then they immediately

968
00:50:33,719 --> 00:50:36,880
Speaker 2: had talent issues. In the subsequent seasons, none of the

969
00:50:36,920 --> 00:50:39,720
Speaker 2: young guys panned out. Now they don't have enough talent

970
00:50:39,719 --> 00:50:41,879
Speaker 2: to get the job done, and the young guys aren't

971
00:50:41,920 --> 00:50:45,040
Speaker 2: worth enough to bring in that talent. So they were

972
00:50:45,040 --> 00:50:49,480
Speaker 2: both spectacular failures, but they were very different. I thought

973
00:50:49,480 --> 00:50:52,759
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty Lakers were more talented, and they demolished

974
00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:55,719
Speaker 2: themselves because they couldn't see that they lost because of

975
00:50:55,719 --> 00:50:59,279
Speaker 2: an injury. The twenty twenty two Warriors squeaked by to

976
00:50:59,320 --> 00:51:01,920
Speaker 2: win a champion on the greatness of Steph Curry in

977
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:06,400
Speaker 2: Game four on the road in Boston, and it validated

978
00:51:06,480 --> 00:51:09,279
Speaker 2: Joe Lakob's perspective on keeping those young guys, and then

979
00:51:09,320 --> 00:51:11,360
Speaker 2: they ended up having a talent issue. So I just

980
00:51:11,400 --> 00:51:13,520
Speaker 2: thought it was a little bit more spectacular with the Lakers,

981
00:51:13,560 --> 00:51:16,680
Speaker 2: just simply because of how good that team was and

982
00:51:16,719 --> 00:51:18,399
Speaker 2: how they broke it apart the way that they did.

983
00:51:19,480 --> 00:51:21,720
Speaker 2: All right, guys, that was just for fun. I again,

984
00:51:21,760 --> 00:51:23,960
Speaker 2: I keep dropping your real mail back questions. I'm gonna

985
00:51:23,960 --> 00:51:26,360
Speaker 2: be recording that tomorrow and it'll run next week on Wednesday.

986
00:51:26,560 --> 00:51:28,960
Speaker 2: As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us

987
00:51:29,040 --> 00:51:31,279
Speaker 2: and supporting the show. We'll be back on Monday with

988
00:51:31,360 --> 00:51:33,759
Speaker 2: our power rankings like we always have. I will see

989
00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:34,359
Speaker 2: you guys then,