WEBVTT - 5 NBA Reactions: Rich Paul podcast issues, Embiid trade?, Tony Allen vs. LeBron, Warriors stupidity 0:00:01.280 --> 0:00:17.120 The Volume. All right, welcome to him tonight here at 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:18.919 the Volume Heavy Monday, everybody. I hope all of you 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:22.040 guys had an incredible weekend. Got a jampack show for 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:25.040 you guys today. I have five big takeaways from the weekend. 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:27.440 I want to talk a little bit about the Game 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:29.720 Over podcast with Rich Paul and Max Kellerman, some of 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:32.360 the things they said, some of the fallout of some 0:00:32.440 --> 0:00:34.800 of the ways that they behave on that show. We're 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:37.600 going to talk about that debate about Tony Allen versus 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:40.519 Lebron James on defense, which I thought was fascinating. I 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:42.760 have some follow up on our Spike Skin pod. And 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:43.919 then at the tail end of the show, I want 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.520 to talk about the report that the Golden State Warriors 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:49.840 passed on Jalen Brown or we're just kind of generally 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:52.600 uninterested in him. To be clear, just real quick about 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:55.040 our schedule this week. We're doing this stuff today, the 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:58.000 kind of five takeaways from the weekend. We are starting 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:01.000 player rankings officially on Wednesday. We're going to do our 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:03.520 kind of rules, kind of go over how the list works, 0:01:03.880 --> 0:01:05.880 and then I have seven players that we're going to 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:09.520 hit that we're like honorable mention on Wednesday, and then 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.160 Friday will be the first chunk of players on the 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:15.080 list number twenty five, twenty four, and twenty three. 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:15.920 So the player. 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:19.200 Rankings are starting this week, starting on Wednesday. You guys 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:20.920 are the two before we started. Subscribe to Hoops and 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:22.960 not YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of our videos. 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:24.280 We still have a goal to get to one hundred 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:27.080 and fifty thousand subs. I got about seven thousand more 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:29.400 to go, and you guys can help us a lot 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:32.160 just by scrolling down and hitting that subscribe button. If 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:35.959 you're already subscribed like this video, sign up for post notifications. 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.400 That helps us a lot. And then no mailbag this week. 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:41.039 But the way the mailbags are going to work, we're 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:44.840 gonna have mailbags kind of centered around the player rankings 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:47.480 list starting a week from this Friday. I obviously want 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:49.360 to get some players out there, so you guys have 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:52.040 some mailbag questions to ask. But our mailbags are very 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:56.000 much going to be a debate about the player rankings, 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:58.080 so I want you guys to come prepared with arguments 0:01:58.080 --> 0:01:59.960 for why you guys disagree with the players are rank 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:02.760 will start a week from Friday, all right, let's talk 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:05.280 some basketball. So our first big takeaway from the weekend. 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.320 Rich Paul is free to podcast about whatever he wants, 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:13.400 but let's not pretend like there aren't consequences for the 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:18.040 things you say on that type of forum. It's you 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.160 know again. We could argue about whether or not it 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.120 should have had a big impact on Lebron James leaving 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.600 the Lakers in the fracturing of his relationship there, but 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:31.760 it certainly was part of that deterioration. Lebron's so good 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:34.200 at basketball that the Lakers should have kept him, just 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:36.760 like the Sixers shouldn't be concerned about whether or not 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:39.400 it's worth it to have Lebron James. But it was 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:44.560 part of that deterioration. The relationship that Rich Paul has 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:49.440 with Lebron James makes this sort of thing complicated. Take 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:52.600 some of the specific things we've heard from Rich, like 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:56.000 him talking about how this could all be good for vj. 0:02:56.280 --> 0:03:00.320 Edgecomb as long as he accepts a smaller role in 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:04.680 a winning context, or the stuff about Lebron being basically 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:08.040 like a media shield for Jalen Brown. Now, if guys 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:10.680 like me or anybody else in the media, or any 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:13.760 fan for that matter, if you guys make those assertions, 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:18.720 it's basically just analysis of a situation, and I don't 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:20.600 even necessarily disagree with anything there. 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:22.040 Like I do think that VJ. 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:24.640 Edgecumb learning how to play a smaller role in a 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:27.760 winning context could actually help him in the long run 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:30.960 of his career. I do think that having Lebron around 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:35.000 will help with managing the media circus surrounding the team. 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.960 But if Rich Paul says it, it feels more direct. 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:43.480 It's Lebron's agent thinks VJ. Edgecomb should take a back seat. 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:49.480 Lebron's agent thinks Austin Reeves is overpaid. Lebron's agent thinks 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:53.360 Austin Reeves should be traded. Lebron's agent thinks, even though 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:56.560 Jaylen Brown will be thirty years old at the start 0:03:56.560 --> 0:04:00.800 of next season, that he somehow needs help handling media circus. 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:03.800 And again I don't even necessarily disagree, Like Jalen Brown's 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:05.840 behavior with the media has been kind of weird over 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:08.160 the last year and mismanaged a little bit, but it's 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:11.000 just different and it feels more direct when it comes 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:15.000 from Lebron's agent. The bottom line is the seventy six 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.160 Ers are gonna be a circus next year. No matter 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:19.919 how things go, the Star powers off the charts, the 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:25.520 storylines are riveting, they have legitimate championship expectations, and there 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:27.720 are a half dozen ways it could go horribly wrong 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:31.719 that the media will be prepared to pounce on. I 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:35.479 mean we saw that firsthand in Lebron's free agency, the 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:37.680 way that the whiteboard and some of the comments that 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.920 were made kind of caused massive waves. 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:41.640 In NBA media. 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:46.719 This is like, this team is going to have enough 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:51.440 to deal with without Lebron's agent kicking up dust every 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:55.520 week with this pot Again, I'm not saying that Rich 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:58.400 shouldn't have a podcast. I'm just saying, like, there are 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:01.840 consequences to the things we say. It's that classic reality, right, 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:04.159 like we all have freedom of speech, but we don't 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:09.520 have freedom from consequences, and that could get super serious 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:11.000 right on the high end legal. I thought it was 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:14.200 super funny the other day when Trump did his latest 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.560 election fraud speech and even Fox News was like, we're 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:19.640 not talking about it, and they just ignored it and 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.719 moved on. You know why, because they lost their ass 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:26.640 in a lawsuit when they inappropriately piggybacked on that whole 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.440 election lie back in twenty twenty with the dominion voting machines, 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:32.960 like they fucked around and found out that there are 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:35.320 consequences to the things that you say when you go 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:40.159 lie on television or say things on television. But even 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.320 on the low end, if you have a platform and 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:46.520 you say things about other people, there are potentially consequences 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:50.560 with the way that people will respond to the things 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:54.280 that you say. Say that, like Max Kellerman pitches the 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:58.000 idea of a VJ Edgecombe trade a month into the 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.800 season because Vja's struggling, kind of like he already did 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:03.359 with em Beat, which we're gonna hit later on in 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:08.120 the show. If Rich doesn't handle it deftly, it could 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:10.800 be all over ESPN, all over FS ONE, all over 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:12.920 Twitter for a few days. And if you don't think 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:14.680 that that could have an impact on a twenty one 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:18.120 year old kid who's struggling with a small role, I 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:21.800 don't know what to tell you. Frankly, to me, it 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:24.479 feels kind of a bit unnecessary right now considering how 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:28.720 successful Rich is, you know, separate from this media universe. 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:32.200 And I'd argue, like even just waiting until Lebron retires 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.560 because of just how big of a media machine Lebron is. 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.120 Even just waiting until Lebron retires could go a long 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:40.919 way to making this a more like feasible venture for 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:43.840 him that doesn't have like trickle down impacts with the 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:47.760 way that things are said. There's just a lot of 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:51.000 pressure if the way this team is covered is going 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:55.479 to involve a popular podcast where every storyline of the 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:58.760 season is going to be discussed. And you have Max Kellerman, 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:01.000 who very much plays the meati. He's a hot take 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:04.640 guy personified. I want a godala right, like to have 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:08.919 that guy asking Rich Paul questions every single week surrounding 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:12.360 the team has the potential to be a distraction. That 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:19.400 is just a fact. Number two, Max Kellerman. As we're 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:21.520 sticking on the game over Pod here for a second, 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:24.520 Max Kellerman on the Game over Pod pitched the idea 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:29.120 of trading Joel Embiid. I personally think it's way too 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:34.120 early to consider moving a player of Joel's caliber, So 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.960 I understand the general idea here, right, You've got a 0:07:38.000 --> 0:07:43.160 player that is on a massive salary that is kind 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:45.240 of the odd man out of this group in some ways. 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:48.720 You know, Lebron transition athlete Jaylen Brown, transition athlete Tyres 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:53.800 maxivj Edgecomb. They're just super fast, right, and Joel Embiid 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:57.480 is slow, and he's reached this phase of his career 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.480 where he's still very good offensively when he's health but 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:02.720 on defense there's major question marks if he has to 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:06.200 venture anywhere away from the rim, and there's just general 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:10.200 health question marks, right. And so I'm not opposed to 0:08:10.240 --> 0:08:14.400 the idea of potentially trading Joel Embiid if the situation 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:17.520 calls for it. I just think it's way too early 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:23.040 because there's enough upside there that it's worth exploring. So 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:25.160 I've talked about this idea before. But when I look 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:30.400 at like what happened to Jalen Brown, specifically in that 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.319 first round series where he started to struggle because Joel 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:37.840 Embiid was trolling the paint and turning Jalen into just 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:40.480 a mid range player, right, Not that Jalen Brown can't 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:42.079 do that, but it just took away one of the 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:44.319 most impactful parts of his game, the ability to get 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:48.200 all the way to the basket. Right now, Joel Embiid 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:50.880 is a counter to that very situation. On the other 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:54.200 end of the floor, his ability to reliably knock down, 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:58.480 catch and shoot three spaces the floor and creates opportunity 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:01.680 to get to the basket more easily. I think about 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.440 Jaylen Brown, and I think about Lebron James, who, by 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:06.600 the way, he has been playing without spacing fives for 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:09.720 this entire last third of his career. I think about 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:12.360 Tyrese Maxi, one of the fastest players in the NBA, 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:14.920 and I think about all the upside if you have 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:17.920 a five man and Joel Embiid that can consistently pull 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.400 that guy away from the basket, and there is no oh, 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:23.920 we're gonna guard him with a ford, Joel will bury 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:27.160 that dude under the basket. There's no hiding your center 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:30.760 on a non shooter. That center's gotta guard Joel Embiid, 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:32.160 or you're just throwing the ball to him in the 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:34.080 post and he's doing what he did to the Celtics 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:35.960 in the first round. Even if you have a center, 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:38.400 if he's not the right kind of center, Joel's gonna 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:42.360 annihilate that dude. There is so much offensive upside that 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:44.880 I think it is at the very least worthwhile to 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.520 go into the season with Joel Embiid and just see 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:51.079 how it looks now, if you get a couple months 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:54.520 into the season and it's abundantly clear that the styles clash, 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:57.520 Joel struggles to play on offense with all the ball handling, 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:00.319 Joel's footspeed ends up being a major is you with 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:02.800 their transition game or with what they're doing on defense. 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:06.120 If it just looks obvious that the best version of 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:08.920 the team involves the four other guys and Joel sticks 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.280 out like a sore thumb, by all means, consider trading 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:15.480 him at that point injuries. If Joel goes down with 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:17.760 some sort of neat thing and it's like, Okay, well 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:21.280 we need to attach a pick to his contract in 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:24.120 order to multiple picks to his contract in order to 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:28.120 try to bring back useful players. I understand that, but 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:30.160 at the very least you got to go into the 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:31.680 season with Joel. 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:33.160 To explore that upside. 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:36.440 Joel and b when he's healthy, is just simply one 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:39.760 of the very best offensive players in the NBA, and 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:43.800 his unique ability to space out rim protection could cause 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:47.120 all sorts of problems for defenses. Again, if you look 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:49.560 at the clunkiness of this group, you know a lot 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:53.240 of people will think, oh, Lebron James Jylen Brown vj 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:57.480 edgecomb this kind of Miami heat esque like Heatles ESK 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:01.520 where maybe Lebron and d Wade or just slashers that 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:04.800 don't play off of each other super well and if 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:07.760 they can't space the floor, that can cause problems. Right, 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:10.360 But what happened when they moved Chris Bosh to the five. 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:14.240 When they moved Chris Bosh to the five in the 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:18.120 later years of the Heatles and they started spacing out centers, 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:20.640 all of a sudden, Lebron James and Dwayne Wade were 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:21.880 just feasting at the rim. 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:22.560 That's the thing. 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:27.000 Like this, this whole thing could be clunky, but if 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:29.520 you get a spacing five out there, it could make 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:33.360 it just work in a way that's devastating. So again, 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:35.920 I think you got to explore keeping Joel and beat 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:39.200 on the team, at least in the short term. Number 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:45.400 three Tony Allen had this long, you know take about 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:47.600 how Lebron James was. Oh, he had a lot of stuff, 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:50.440 says he was targeted on defense, which again I don't 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.280 I don't remember Lebron James ever really being targeted on 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:55.880 defense until like last year when he's just older and 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:59.040 slower and some of the quicker players can go go 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:03.160 around him. But players certainly scored on Lebron James in 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:06.120 his career, but it was never like, oh, we're picking 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:07.520 on Lebron James. It was like, oh, it was a 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:09.760 late clock situation I happened to be going against him, 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:12.240 or a random possession here or there. No one was 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:15.160 targeting Lebron James for the vast majority of his career. 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:18.400 He said that he kind of like simplified his overall 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.640 defensive impact down to just chase down blocks. He used 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:25.200 the word overrated. He said that he avoided guarding primary options, 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:28.199 and it kind of sparked this debate about the difference 0:12:28.240 --> 0:12:30.560 between a guy like Tony Allen on defense and a 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:34.280 guy like Lebron James on defense. I think this is 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:39.160 really complicated. I've always had a hard time lumping in 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:43.760 star level defenders with role player defenders just because of 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:48.160 the reality of the job. Right Like I when I 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:53.520 was in college at Arizona Christian my last year, I 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:55.760 came in as a scoring type of dude. I was 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:57.720 an All Conference player of the previous year and JUCO 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:00.400 had a bunch of big scoring games. But I went 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:03.760 onto a team that had two All American guards, and 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:06.520 they didn't want me with the ball ever, And it 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:09.960 was perfectly fine under the circumstances of that team. We 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:12.440 had much better offensive players than me. You should not 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:14.680 have given me the ball. But it allowed me to 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:17.920 become like this just defender. I just guarded the other 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:20.599 team's best player every single night, and I rebounded and 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:22.959 I defended. I'd occasionally take an open catch and shoot three, 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:25.080 do a handful of things here or there. But the 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:27.040 other guys handled the offense and I guarded the other 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:27.839 team's best player. 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:28.679 That was my job. 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:31.040 And what it did is it allowed me to kind 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:33.840 of just devote all my energy in that direction. As 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:38.440 I've gotten older and a lot more skilled offensively, and 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.120 I'm playing in men's leagues and I'm playing in pickup 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:44.600 runs and private runs and stuff like that, I have 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.360 a lot more offensive responsibility. And guess what, it's not 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:49.280 as easy for me to guard the other team's best 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:50.559 player with the same level of. 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:51.760 Energy that I usually do. 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:55.480 But then I'll play, you know, with a particular pickup 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:57.480 run where I've got good ball handlers on the team, 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.679 or I'll play in a pro am here in Denver 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:03.320 and I'll be on a team with a lot more talent, 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:04.800 and all of a sudden, it's like I can devote 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:07.440 on my energy to defense, and it's almost like for me, 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:09.599 it's like going back in time to what it was 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:11.800 like when I was at Arizona Christian where that was 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:13.880 all I did, and all of a sudden, I have 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:17.760 like this tons of energy and focus for that specific job. 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:21.560 The reality is is that, like when you're talking about 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:26.480 a Tony Allen in the NBA, his job is fundamentally 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:30.880 different than a Jalen Brown or a Lebron James, right, 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:35.120 and like, for instance, the idea of him guarding primary options, 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:39.800 it would be stupid to deploy Lebron James as a 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:43.560 primary perimeter defensive option from the opening tip of every 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:47.360 single game. All it would cause is him to not 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:49.760 do is good of a job because he doesn't have 0:14:49.800 --> 0:14:52.160 the energy for it, or to do too good of 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:54.560 a job and have it have an impact on the 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:57.320 energy reserves. He has to be good on the offensive 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:00.640 end of the floor. Lebron was always capable of that 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:03.120 sort of thing. It was just something that they only 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:07.920 deployed in high leverage situations. Okay, it's the end of 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:11.280 the Eastern Conference Finals in twenty eleven. Let's have Lebron 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:15.720 James guard Derreck Rose. Okay, it's the gold the semi 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:18.760 final game in the Olympics. Let's have Lebron James gard 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.760 Nikola Jokic for the entire fourth quarter. Okay, it's the 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:27.360 twenty twenty Western Conference Finals. And the Jamal Murray Nicole 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:30.160 Jokic pick and roll is causing problems. We want to 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:32.800 be able to switch it. So let's put Lebron James 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:35.960 on Jamal Murray and Anthony Davis on Nikola Jokic, and 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:38.600 let's switch. And we're gonna just use Lebron as the 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:40.880 guy who can both guard Jamal Murray and switch on 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:41.720 to Nikola Jokic. 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:42.240 And he's good. 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:44.960 But they only did that at like, what was it 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:48.400 the final few minutes of Game four of that series, 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:50.520 if I remember correctly. So it's like, at the end 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:53.680 of the day, Lebron has always been capable of that 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:56.560 sort of thing. They've just been his coaching stabs and 0:15:56.560 --> 0:16:00.320 his teams have been like kind of selective about when 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:02.680 they want to use him in that specific. 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.480 Way as a product of his energy reserves. 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.600 Now, does that mean he was as good at guarding 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:11.240 perimeter players as Tony Allen. No like. Talk to anybody 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:13.320 who's played in the Tony Allen era and they'll tell 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:15.600 you he was one of the best, if not the best, 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:16.760 perimeter defenders in the league. 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:16.960 I know. 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:19.800 Kevin Durant has personally said that Tony Allen was the 0:16:19.800 --> 0:16:22.160 guy that gave him the most issues. But again, that 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.120 was the one thing that he did and it was 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:28.720 why he was in the NBA. He was a professional 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.600 perimeter defender. Today's show is brought to you by a 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:36.160 presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bets Sportsbook. Some sports fans call 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:39.360 this slow period until football season, but Hard Rock Bet 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:42.520 we call it baseball season. In this summer, hard Rock 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:46.960 Bet has the hottest betting odds in Florida, introducing ten 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:50.720 cents summer sale, big juice fee, whatever you call it. 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:54.360 We're cutting our cut on winners, spreads and over under 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:58.440 pregame baseball bets, same bets, betterands. If you're ready to 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:01.200 step into the batters box, sign up with hard Rock 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:04.280 Bet today and place a five dollars bet. If it wins, 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:06.080 you get one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:08.080 on top of your winnings. That's right, an extra one 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:10.360 hundred and fifty dollars in your account and sure, hard 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:12.679 Rock Bet is Florida's only legal sports book. But if 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:14.800 you don't, you don't have to be in Florida to 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:18.320 join the party. Hard Rock Bet is also live in Arizona, Ohio, 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:22.960 New Jersey, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Illinois, Colorado, and Michigan, with 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.119 more states on the way. So grab your bat and 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:28.120 swing for the fences all August long during hard Rock 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:31.199 Bets ten cent Summer Sale. Download the hard Rock Bet 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:34.080 app today and roll with us payble and bonus bets 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:36.159 not a cash offer offered by the Seminole Tribe of 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:38.800 Florida and Florida offered by Seminal hard Rock Digital, LLC 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:41.760 and all other states. Valid for money lines spread and 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:44.760 over under pregame markets with odds between minus two to 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:47.600 fifty and plus two to fifty only. Must be twenty 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:51.520 one plus and physically president in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.480 New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee or Virginia to play. Terms and 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:57.639 conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida called one eight 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:00.560 three to three play wise in Indiana view or someone 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:02.560 you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:05.880 one eight hundred and nine with it in Arizona, Ohio 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:09.080 and Virginia called one eight hundred my reset gambling problem, 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:12.440 called one hundred gambler in Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:17.800 or Tennessee. So again, like I I think, like even 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:22.879 just the baseline under which we're having this discussion that 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:27.119 Tony Allen's trying to have is flawed because we're talking 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:30.719 about a role player perimeter defender, Excuse me, a role 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:33.600 player perimeter defender versus a guy who has a whole 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:37.920 lot more responsibility on the floor. Now, let's dig a 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:40.840 little bit further into this, because I do think it's fascinating. 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:43.600 I do think that when we talk about, you know, 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:46.760 best defenders in the league, best defenders of all time, 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:50.119 we tend to kind of like focus on specific types 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:52.600 of guys. And I think there's a way to have 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:57.280 that conversation as a as a a when we talk 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:01.199 about team building. So, what is the most valuable type 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:05.880 of defender? To me, the most valuable type of defender 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:09.840 is still to this day, a center, that is versatile, 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:13.159 meaning a guy who can protect the rim, but that 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:16.119 isn't so slow that he can be picked on by speed. 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:20.040 This is why we look at the Victor wembin Yama's, 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:23.600 the Chet Holmgrens, the bam Ata bios, the Anthony Davis 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:26.399 when he was healthy, the Rudy Gobars. They are still 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:30.040 the most valuable defensive players in the league. Why because 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:32.680 in any sort of help side situation, they shut off 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:35.639 the rim and they give you a much more of 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:38.040 a fighting chance and pick and roll. If he can 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:40.440 get up to the level and get back in dynamic 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:42.760 drop coverages, and if he can get up to the 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:46.880 level and switch in circumstances where a guard is really 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:48.920 cooking and you need them to shut that water off, 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:54.560 that is still the most valuable type of defender. From there, 0:19:54.840 --> 0:19:57.800 the second most valuable type of defender to me is 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:01.080 the Swiss army knife, the guy that can do a 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:06.200 lot really well. Now does that mean that Lebron James 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:10.320 did that stuff every minute of every game for all 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:13.520 eighty two for his entire career. No, but I do 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:15.880 think he slots into that group, which is like, can 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:20.960 he guard multiple positions on the perimeter Can he also 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:25.520 guard bullyball post up players. Can he also be effective 0:20:25.520 --> 0:20:31.440 as a secondary rim protector Lebron James blocking Thiago Splitter 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:34.359 at the rim, Lebron James blocking Tim Duncan at the 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:37.600 rim in low man rotations in the mid twenty tens, 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:43.240 there can you be a all of those things? Secondary 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:49.200 rim protector, defensive rebounding talent guard power forwards and post 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:53.639 up centers switching on to point guards. That to me 0:20:54.200 --> 0:20:59.280 is the second most valuable type of defender in the league. 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:02.320 Then the the third most valuable type of defender to 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:04.560 me in the league is that I put this guy 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:07.720 on the other team's best player and he makes life 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:09.840 hell for him for forty eight minutes. 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:13.840