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Speaker 1: to new tonight here at the volume heavy Wednesday. Everybody

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Speaker 1: hope All If you guys are having a great week,

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Speaker 1: we got a jam pack show for you today. We're

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Speaker 1: hitting both pn T games from last night as the

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Speaker 1: Knicks get a big win on the road against the

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Speaker 1: Pacers and then the Grizzlies do the same on the

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Speaker 1: road against the Suns. A lot of interesting stuff to

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Speaker 1: get into. You guys have the joke before we get started.

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Speaker 1: also have brand new social media feeds on Twitter, Instagram,

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Speaker 1: you guys follow us there. In the last but not least,

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Speaker 1: keepdropping mailback questions in the YouTube comments. We can hit

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Speaker 1: them in our Friday mail bags throughout the rest of

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Speaker 1: the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So we're

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Speaker 1: gonna start with Nicks Pacers. A very interesting example of

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Speaker 1: the role that matchups play in the NBA. The Pacers

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Speaker 1: did about as good of a job on Jalen Brunson

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Speaker 1: in this game that I've ever seen a team do.

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Speaker 1: They started with Nemhart on him, but it was a

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Speaker 1: steady diet of Nemhard Knee Smith, TJ. McConnell, and they

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Speaker 1: were just relentless with physical ball pressure all night long,

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Speaker 1: staying attached, swiping at the ball, being physical with him,

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Speaker 1: frustrating him. They stayed attached to him on screening actions,

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Speaker 1: even the tougher ones. You know, Jalen Brunson's will sometimes

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Speaker 1: like get into the middle of the floor and if

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Speaker 1: he doesn't like what he's got, he'll pitch the ball

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Speaker 1: out to a big flashing up high and then he'll

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Speaker 1: sprint off of that for a dribble handoff. But even

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Speaker 1: on those he was coming off the dribble handoff and

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Speaker 1: just running right into another defender. They closed off passing

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Speaker 1: angles on him with length, made it really difficult for

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Speaker 1: him to feed the role man when he was getting

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Speaker 1: trapped on some of those actions. They kept him off

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Speaker 1: the foul line. It's the first time all season that

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Speaker 1: a team held Jalen Brunson to zero free throw attempts.

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Speaker 1: I thought that was interesting and again got him into

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Speaker 1: foul trouble. And I thought most of that foul trouble

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Speaker 1: actually came down to his own his own frustrations. Three

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Speaker 1: of the fouls that he had in this game, he

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Speaker 1: basically just either hacked the dude or shoved somebody over

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Speaker 1: when he was clearly frustrated. But here's the thing. The

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Speaker 1: Pacers match up well with the Knicks on the perimeter.

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Speaker 1: They've got a lot of guys that they can throw at.

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Speaker 1: Jalen Brunson, Nemhard can do a good job. Nie Smith

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Speaker 1: is big and physical and can give him some issues. TJ.

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Speaker 1: McConnell a fire hydrant that can beat him to spots.

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Speaker 1: Those guys give him some issues. The flip side is, though,

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Speaker 1: without Myles Turner, they match up terribly with Carl Anthony

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Speaker 1: Towns and he absolutely fried Thomas Bryant in every which

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Speaker 1: way in this game. It's beating in with the classic

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Speaker 1: pick and pop stuff that the Knicks do all the time.

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Speaker 1: He beat him several times with drives. He beat him

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Speaker 1: out of the post, like Briant looked lost chasing him

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Speaker 1: around on the perimeter. There's a big possession in the

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Speaker 1: fourth quarter of this game where they needed to stop

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Speaker 1: late shot clock situation. There's like three four seconds on

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Speaker 1: the shot clock and Cat the ball's in the right corner,

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Speaker 1: deep in the right corner, and Kat kind of flashes

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Speaker 1: to the right wing to get the ball, and Thomas

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Speaker 1: Bryant like runs out there to try to deny the pass.

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Speaker 1: As soon as Cat catches it, he just rips back

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Speaker 1: to the left and goes right by Thomas Bryant gets

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Speaker 1: a wide open layup. It's just bad defense. But that's

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Speaker 1: the thing. Like a lot of times, Carl Anthony Towns

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Speaker 1: will put big guys into situations that they're not used

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Speaker 1: to being in because he's such a different type of

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Speaker 1: outside in center, the Pacers tried all sorts of things.

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Speaker 1: They tried a centerless look where they went with Siakam

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Speaker 1: and Obi Toppin at the four or five, and Kat

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Speaker 1: just promptly got too easy post seal buckets, a transition

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Speaker 1: one against Ben mather In, a little post move on

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Speaker 1: the right block. Against Obi Toppin, they tried putting a

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Speaker 1: wing on him and refusing to switch so that he

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Speaker 1: couldn't get open on the pop, but then they just

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Speaker 1: used Kat as a screener and ended up getting McHale

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Speaker 1: bridges downhill for an easy drop off pass to Josh Hart.

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Speaker 1: They couldn't keep him off the offensive glass. They just

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Speaker 1: didn't have the bodies to match up with Karl Anthony Towns,

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Speaker 1: and he torched him for it forty points, twelve rebounds,

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Speaker 1: and five assists. Such an interesting example of that dynamic though,

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Speaker 1: Like the styles make fights, and if you've got the

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Speaker 1: guys to match up with a certain type of player,

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Speaker 1: you can be in a good spot there. But if

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Speaker 1: you don't have a matchup for a different type of player,

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Speaker 1: you can be completely screwed. And it didn't matter how

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Speaker 1: good of a job they did on Brunson again, the

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Speaker 1: best job I've seen someone do on Brunson in a

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Speaker 1: long time, and it just didn't matter because they didn't

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Speaker 1: have the bodies for Karl Anthony Towns. It's an interesting

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Speaker 1: example of that dynamic. Again, injuries play a role in this,

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Speaker 1: but I just thought it was a really interesting storyline

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Speaker 1: in that game. I thought Josh Hart had a fantastic game,

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Speaker 1: a lot of the usual transition pushes where he just

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Speaker 1: looks like a bowling ball to the rim. He had

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Speaker 1: twelve points in transition in this game. To me, Josh

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Speaker 1: hartt represents the consistent second wave of rim pressure when

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Speaker 1: the Knicks are an offense on offense in the half court,

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Speaker 1: whether it's Jalen Brunson, whether it's Karl Anthony Towns, whether

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Speaker 1: it's og In McHale, it doesn't matter who it is

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Speaker 1: that's initiating things. As soon as he sees his man

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Speaker 1: turn his head, he is cutting to the front of

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Speaker 1: the rim, and if he doesn't get the ball on

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Speaker 1: the cut, he's there for the offensive glass. He had

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Speaker 1: ten points on cuts in this game. He had four

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Speaker 1: points on offensive rebounds. Think about how crazy that is

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Speaker 1: to have a thirty point game where you have twelve

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Speaker 1: in transition, ten on cuts, and four in offensive rebounds,

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Speaker 1: basically putting up a thirty ball almost entirely on the

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Speaker 1: margins just by running his lane and cutting every single

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Speaker 1: time someone got to the basket. In the Knicks offense,

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Speaker 1: it's that second wave. Right first wave comes in, all

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Speaker 1: attention gets direc towards that. Josh is always just sneaking

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Speaker 1: in right behind that and doing damage. Overall, I thought

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Speaker 1: the Knicks defense did a great job of containing the

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Speaker 1: ball in this game too, particularly on Pascal Siakam. Pascal

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Speaker 1: had twenty four points, but literally every single one of

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Speaker 1: them were either in transition or as a play finisher.

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Speaker 1: He didn't get a single bucket or a single point

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Speaker 1: in the post or in an ISO, or as the

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Speaker 1: ball handler in a ball screen. When he got into

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Speaker 1: those situations, guys were walling him up, keeping him in

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Speaker 1: front and forcing him to shoot over the top, and

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Speaker 1: he was missing. And again, like that's your job. Like

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Speaker 1: every one of these star players, you're not gonna stop

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Speaker 1: them entirely. And again, Pascal got twenty four because he's

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Speaker 1: still a really good basketball player. But if you at

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Speaker 1: least make them rely on the tougher shots that are

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Speaker 1: in their diet, you can limit their effectiveness gamed game

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Speaker 1: based on variants. We all know Pascal can hit those shots,

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Speaker 1: but he also can miss them. But the only way

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Speaker 1: you can get him into that situation is if that's

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Speaker 1: what he's relying on instead of getting easy stuff just

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Speaker 1: beating people off the dribble. I thought they did a

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Speaker 1: good job on Haliburton, held him to sixteen points and

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Speaker 1: force him into four turnovers. I've talked a lot of

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Speaker 1: late when we talk NIX about how devastating they can

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Speaker 1: be when they play defense and they get stops and

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Speaker 1: they force turnovers, and they run out in transition when

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Speaker 1: they focus in on getting stops, run out for quick

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Speaker 1: shots and then get back and defend again. That's when

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Speaker 1: they're at their best, and really I thought that was

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Speaker 1: what triggered the run that ended the game. The Pacers

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Speaker 1: actually cut this one down to four in the late

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Speaker 1: third quarter, but like McHale, Bridges stays attached to Tyrese

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Speaker 1: Haliburton on a ball screen forces a missed mid range shot.

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Speaker 1: They run out and get a bucket. McHale walls up

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Speaker 1: Siakam on an ISO and forces him into an overtop

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Speaker 1: shot that he misses. They run out the other way.

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Speaker 1: Duce McBride misses a shot, it gets blocked when they

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Speaker 1: get an offensive rebound and they get to the foul line.

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Speaker 1: Landry Shammitt defends Halliburton really or defends Andrew Nemhard really

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Speaker 1: well on a ball screen, forces him into a tough

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Speaker 1: mid range fade away that he leaves way short and

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Speaker 1: then runs the floor to the left corner, and Shaman

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Speaker 1: hits a corner three. In transition. Tyre Saliburn coming off

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Speaker 1: of a little ball screen action with Thomas Bryant. It's

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Speaker 1: a little miscommunication. He thinks Thomas Bryant's gonna pop, but

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Speaker 1: insteady rolls Tyree's just throws it over the top and

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Speaker 1: they're running out the other way, and here's campaign with

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Speaker 1: a reverse layup on the left side of the basket.

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Speaker 1: That is when the Knicks are at their best, stops, rebounds, pushes,

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Speaker 1: quick shots in transition. I think that's the important thing

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Speaker 1: that they're gonna have to rely on, because again, when

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Speaker 1: they get into the half court, especially against some of

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Speaker 1: the best teams in the league, if you let this

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Speaker 1: become a slow down game, there are better slow down

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Speaker 1: teams than you. So that's got to be an important

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Speaker 1: part of what they do. A couple other knicks I

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Speaker 1: wanted to shout out. I thought ducemcbride was great. The

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Speaker 1: Pacers jumped out to a seven point lead early in

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Speaker 1: this game. He hit three threes in his first shift

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Speaker 1: that really helped flip the tide of this game back

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Speaker 1: towards the Knicks. And then Prescious to chew up like

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Speaker 1: Prescious has been getting a lot of opportunities here with

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Speaker 1: the starting group since Ojan Andobe got hurt, and there's

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Speaker 1: an obvious difference, like he doesn't shoot the ball very well.

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Speaker 1: There are a lot of possessions where I'm watching the

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Speaker 1: Knicks and someone gets in the lane and they fire

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Speaker 1: a kickout pass and it's too Precious in the corner

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Speaker 1: and you're like, he clangs it off the side of

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Speaker 1: the rim, and you're like, that's a shot that og

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Speaker 1: Anobi can make. But you just have to find a

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Speaker 1: way to make a positive impact anyway when you're a

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Speaker 1: replacement player like that first on the glass. Precious had

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Speaker 1: five offensive rebounds last night, twelve overall driving closeouts. When

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Speaker 1: you catch in the corner instead of shooting, just rip

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Speaker 1: and go to the basket. Try to make something good

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Speaker 1: happen that way. He had a big rescue possession rre.

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Speaker 1: He ended up with the ball in the late clock,

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Speaker 1: like late in the shot clock, just went right at

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Speaker 1: Pascal Siakam's chest and bodied him and made a little

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Speaker 1: left shoulder hook in the lane. That's a positive impact.

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Speaker 1: He was active as an off ball screener. He got

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Speaker 1: a again, this is a great way to generate spacing

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Speaker 1: when you can't shoot. I think it was Michael Bridges

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Speaker 1: driving from the top of the key and Campaign was

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Speaker 1: on the right wing and Precious to chew over was

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Speaker 1: in the right corner and instead of just standing there,

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Speaker 1: he just ran up in backscreen campaigns Man Campaign relocated

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Speaker 1: to the corner and it was just an easy kickout

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Speaker 1: pass to campaign for three. That's creating spacing with your

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Speaker 1: screening without needing to actually knock down spot up shots.

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Speaker 1: I just thought he played really well, and Tims clearly

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Speaker 1: trust him because he's been playing huge minutes as of late.

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Speaker 1: I thought that was a really nice road win for

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Speaker 1: the Knicks. On the Pacers front. Again, I want to

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Speaker 1: compliment them for their defense on Brunson. It's just one

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Speaker 1: of the better performances that I've seen a team do

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Speaker 1: against him. I thought They're off ball and transition defense

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Speaker 1: did them in on this one. Specifically, Tyres Alibert and

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Speaker 1: Ben Mathern. They had really rough nights in this department

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Speaker 1: against the Knicks. Again, you have to know that they're

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Speaker 1: trying to run the floor. They are trying to do

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Speaker 1: a lot of crashing, a lot of cutting, a lot

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Speaker 1: of running. They are the most efficient transition offense in

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Speaker 1: the NBA. They are a top ten offensive rebound scoring team,

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Speaker 1: and they are top ten they're top ten in scoring

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Speaker 1: off of cuts. It's a huge part of their game plan.

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Speaker 1: When you're playing the Knicks, you got to keep them

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Speaker 1: off the glass. You got to get back in transition.

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Speaker 1: You got to watch those second wave cuts like we

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Speaker 1: were talking about with Josh Hart, and yet time and

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Speaker 1: time again, the Pacers would have bad floor balance then

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Speaker 1: just get beat down the floor in transition just because

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Speaker 1: the next were running harder, or in the half court,

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Speaker 1: a guy like Josh Hart or Precious to Chew At

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Speaker 1: Karl Anthony Towns or some Knicks player would just slash

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Speaker 1: to the basket behind the play and clean things up

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Speaker 1: while there were Pacers who weren't paying attention. This is

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Speaker 1: actually a big picture problem for the Pacers that extends

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Speaker 1: beyond last night. The Pacers give up the fifth most

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Speaker 1: points per game in the entire NBA off of cuts,

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Speaker 1: and they give up the ninth most points directly off

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Speaker 1: of putbacks, meaning quick offensive rebound putbacks in the NBA

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Speaker 1: perc entergy. It's just something they need to get way

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Speaker 1: better at. Ben Mathern in particular, is really bad at it.

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Speaker 1: He's always just kind of like standing upright and ball

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Speaker 1: watching when he's in off ball situations. It's just a

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Speaker 1: recipe for getting beat there. The other thing I want

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Speaker 1: to talk about is the Thomas Bryant issue. Again, it's

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Speaker 1: hard to overcome a drop off from Miles Turner to

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Speaker 1: Thomas Bryant. Brian is just really bad on defense, especially

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Speaker 1: in space, but he also doesn't provide any rim protection,

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Speaker 1: so it's tough. But he usually makes up for it

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Speaker 1: on offense, and he just hasn't been good enough there.

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Speaker 1: He had eighteen last night. But I thought one of

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Speaker 1: the big things that stood out to me in terms

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Speaker 1: of like disrupting the rhythm of the PACER's offense is

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Speaker 1: that kickback on the pick and pop where it's usually

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Speaker 1: Haliburton and Turner, where Halliburton will come off that screen,

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Speaker 1: Miles will pop, He'll pitch it back and Miles will

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Speaker 1: either pump fake or drive the clothes out and take

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Speaker 1: that pick and pop three. And Thomas just wasn't taking it.

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Speaker 1: He was just catching at the top of the key

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Speaker 1: wide open, not taking it, but also not driving it.

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Speaker 1: He would like catch there and then just turn and

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Speaker 1: look the other way for someone else to run action.

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Speaker 1: It almost like seemed like a break in the wheel

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Speaker 1: of the way that the pacers want to run offense.

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Speaker 1: There's a couple of different ways he can do that.

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Speaker 1: Shoot it. If you're not going to shoot it, just roll.

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Speaker 1: There were a few times in the second half where

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Speaker 1: he started rolling and he brought in lowman help which

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Speaker 1: opened up the skip pass that they were able to

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Speaker 1: get advantages out of. Another thing he was able to

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Speaker 1: do he had a shorter jumper around the top of

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Speaker 1: the key. Okay, you don't want to take twenty five

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Speaker 1: four footer, go in there and take the eighteen nineteen footer,

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Speaker 1: right like, do something to be a threat when you're

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Speaker 1: popping out of those ball screens, especially when they're playing you,

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Speaker 1: because you're specifically a good offensive player. But the Pacers

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Speaker 1: are going to have to find a way to make

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Speaker 1: better use of Thomas Brian in these minutes when Myles

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Speaker 1: Turner is out because it looked rough on both ends

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Speaker 1: last night. All right, before we move on to the

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Speaker 1: Suns and the Grizzlies, we want to do our segment

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Speaker 1: that we have with our partner Microsoft. Welcome to Course Correction,

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Speaker 1: brought to you by Microsoft. Just like star players and

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Speaker 1: teams navigating performance hurdles, business decision makers today are under

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Speaker 1: immense pressure to get things right. They must rise to

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Speaker 1: the occasion, turning challenges into opportunities. Microsoft empowers these visionaries

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Speaker 1: with AI solutions, simplified cloud and data management and trustworthy,

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Speaker 1: responsible AI. And when you're in the NBA, you have

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Speaker 1: your own hurdles to face. In this segment, we explore

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Speaker 1: the challenges faced by teams or star players and how

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Speaker 1: they can turn things around. Whatever challenge your face, seeing

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Speaker 1: Microsoft empowers you with the expertise to say bring it on.

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Speaker 1: This week, we're discussing the challenge faced by Kevin Durant

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Speaker 1: after his Achilles injury. I was amazed watching Kevin Durant

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Speaker 1: last night. The Suns were an absolute mess. They had

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Speaker 1: several guys playing that probably shouldn't be in the rotation

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Speaker 1: for a serious NBA team. They looked incredibly sloppy and undisciplined,

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Speaker 1: one of the worst transition defense performances I've seen. They

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Speaker 1: gave up twenty offensive rebounds. We're gonna talk all about

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Speaker 1: that here in a few minutes when we get into

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Speaker 1: that game breakdown. But like a shining light in that

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Speaker 1: darkness was Kevin Durant. Thirty four points on eighteen shots,

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Speaker 1: only one turnover, five blocks, battling with Jaron Jackson trying

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Speaker 1: to box him out on the glass all night long,

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Speaker 1: and to top it off, in the process, he enters

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Speaker 1: into rare territory. Kevin Durant is only the eighth player

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Speaker 1: in NBA history to score thirty thousand points in an

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Speaker 1: NBA career. Rarefied air. There a group of guys that

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Speaker 1: it's an honor to be associated with. But to me,

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Speaker 1: the most part of all of this is the circumstances

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Speaker 1: he overcame to get here. Kevin Durant suffered the most

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Speaker 1: terrifying injury that a basketball player can suffer, an Achilles rupture,

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Speaker 1: right at the peak of his powers. He was playing

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Speaker 1: so incredibly well when he took that little baseline jumper

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Speaker 1: that he knocked down where he originally suffered the calf injury,

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Speaker 1: and then he played amazing in his first few minutes

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Speaker 1: in the NBA Finals before he went down, And you

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Speaker 1: can't imagine a more discouraging set of circumstances for a

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Speaker 1: basketball player. And instead of letting that injury be a

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Speaker 1: signal of the end, he came back every bit as

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Speaker 1: good as ever on the other side of the injury.

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Speaker 1: Seven thousand and sixty eight of those thirty thousand and

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Speaker 1: eight points that he scored so far came after the

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Speaker 1: Achilles tear, and he's done it on higher volume in

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Speaker 1: efficiency than he was doing before the injury. In the

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Speaker 1: five seasons before Kevin Durant's injury, he averaged twenty six

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Speaker 1: points per game on just under sixty four percent for shooting.

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Speaker 1: In the five seasons since, he's averaging twenty eight points

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Speaker 1: per game on over sixty four percent for shooting. Any

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Speaker 1: drop in his athleticism, he's more than made up for

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Speaker 1: with a mastery of the modern game as a playmaker

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Speaker 1: and as a floor general. I was really amazed by

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Speaker 1: this in the Brooklyn Nets days as the league kind

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Speaker 1: of shifted to like really good spacing in the spread

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Speaker 1: pick and roll attack. He was so incredibly good at

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Speaker 1: picking teams apart as a pick and roll ball handler

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Speaker 1: with the Nets, and we've seen that extend throughout this

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Speaker 1: late phase of his career. Like he's just the product

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Speaker 1: of a consistent pursuit of excellence. He's got a legendary

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Speaker 1: work ethic. His shooting workouts are the example set for

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Speaker 1: all pros around the world. Still, when I'm talking to

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Speaker 1: the kids that I train in high school, I talk

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Speaker 1: about doing every single rep at game speed, something that

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant has been preaching. He's just Katie is one

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Speaker 1: of the best ambassadors to the game of basketball that

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Speaker 1: has ever come into this league, and I'm thankful for him.

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Speaker 1: I just wanted to take a second before we talked

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Speaker 1: about that game last night, to congratulate him on overcoming

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Speaker 1: the adversity of his injury and to enter into rarefied

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Speaker 1: air and NBA history. That's it for this week's course correction.

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Speaker 1: Remember Microsoft's AI solutions empower you to take bold steps

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Speaker 1: and make informed decisions, sparking new ideas to help drive

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Speaker 1: your business forward. If Microsoft as your trusted partner, you

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Speaker 1: can navigate your journey with confidence, finding innovative solutions and

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Speaker 1: reaching new possibilities. Visit Microsoft dot com Slash Challengers to

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Speaker 1: learn more. All right, let's talk Grizzlies Sons. Now we

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Speaker 1: can go negative. I thought last night was a classic

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Speaker 1: example of the difference between a serious team and the

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Speaker 1: NBA and an unserious team, both in like basketball character,

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Speaker 1: like what the guys in the locker room are willing

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Speaker 1: to do, but also in roster building. I thought the

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Speaker 1: Suns put forth one of the more embarrassing transition defense

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Speaker 1: performances I've seen in the last season, not getting matched up,

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Speaker 1: not sprinting back a lot of repeated confusion early on

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Speaker 1: in the game between Bull Bull and Kevin Durant about

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Speaker 1: who they were guarding, and most of that looked like

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Speaker 1: Bull Bull just not paying attention. Katie's constantly pointing telling

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Speaker 1: him where to go. But we'll get into that with

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Speaker 1: bow Bowl in a minute. They gifted Memphis so many

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Speaker 1: advantages without even needing to do anything other than just

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Speaker 1: push the ball up the floor. Memphis logged thirty six

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Speaker 1: transition possessions last night. That's one of their highest totals

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Speaker 1: of this entire season. All of their bigs were great

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Speaker 1: running the floor, especially Jaron Jackson and Brandon Clark. Santi

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Speaker 1: al Dama came right in and scored eleven points in

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Speaker 1: like his first two minutes on the floor. A bunch

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Speaker 1: of those were in transition. John Morant one of the

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Speaker 1: biggest plays of the game. Bu Bull hits a three

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Speaker 1: on the left wing, cuts the lead to three. Memphis

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Speaker 1: just inbounds to Jaw and Jow races up the court

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Speaker 1: for a layup while every Sun is just glued up

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Speaker 1: to their man instead of getting into normal help side position,

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Speaker 1: making things difficult on the glass. Memphis had twenty offensive

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Speaker 1: rebounds In this game, their bigs were great again. All

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Speaker 1: their bigs did great. Edie Jackson and Clark each had

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Speaker 1: at least three offensive rebounds. Brandon Clark just did a

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Speaker 1: ton of damage to Bowl Bull, who just looked like

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Speaker 1: he was in La la land literally all night. He

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Speaker 1: had a couple of big ones in crunch time two.

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Speaker 1: Zach Edy was punishing. Every single time a Phoenix guard

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Speaker 1: would get switched on to him, he just bury him

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Speaker 1: and get an offensive rebound. Vince Williams Junior relentless corner crashing,

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Speaker 1: Jalen Wells great crashing. Santi al Dama had three offensive rebounds.

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Speaker 1: They just smashed Phoenix on the glass. Meanwhile, on the

429
00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:49,120
Speaker 1: other end, Memphis posted an eighty three percent defensive rebound percentage,

430
00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:54,080
Speaker 1: which is excellent. There are things that serious NBA teams

431
00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:59,359
Speaker 1: do every single game the majority of possessions, just because

432
00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:01,840
Speaker 1: it's a not negotiable to get to where you want

433
00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:03,680
Speaker 1: to go. If you have goals of making a deep

434
00:21:03,680 --> 00:21:07,119
Speaker 1: playoff runt, you have to be willing to run the

435
00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:10,320
Speaker 1: floor all game long, every night. You have to be

436
00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:13,760
Speaker 1: willing to get in there and scrap for rebounds. If

437
00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:17,360
Speaker 1: you don't, you will get utterly smashed on the margins,

438
00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:20,040
Speaker 1: and it will make it nearly impossible for you to overcome.

439
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:23,720
Speaker 1: These two teams were virtually dead even last night in

440
00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:27,800
Speaker 1: half court efficiency. The margins were literally what cost Phoenix

441
00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:29,280
Speaker 1: the game. And this is where we have to look

442
00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:33,840
Speaker 1: at roster building. When you build your roster around three

443
00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:38,400
Speaker 1: max contract guys mostly through trades instead of through naturally

444
00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:41,840
Speaker 1: in the draft, you inevitably sign yourself up for a

445
00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:46,600
Speaker 1: lot of discounted players surrounding them, and that especially is

446
00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:48,639
Speaker 1: gonna come to the surface. And we've talked about this

447
00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:50,360
Speaker 1: a lot on the show over the years. When one

448
00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:52,880
Speaker 1: of those max contract stars is out of the lineup,

449
00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:55,120
Speaker 1: then you end up having to lean on those guys

450
00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:59,400
Speaker 1: even more. And it shows up even when Beal plays

451
00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,760
Speaker 1: simply his Beal is not particularly good at dirty work, right.

452
00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:05,639
Speaker 1: I thought it was very interesting just to see the

453
00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:08,920
Speaker 1: difference and talent on the floor for either team last night.

454
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:13,240
Speaker 1: Like Bull, Bull started for Phoenix and he put up

455
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:15,000
Speaker 1: a monster stat line for the record, which is a

456
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:19,240
Speaker 1: testament to his talent level. Eighteen points, fourteen rebounds, two steals,

457
00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:21,520
Speaker 1: and four blocks. And I thought he was mostly bad,

458
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:24,879
Speaker 1: And I thought he was mostly hurting his team because

459
00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:27,680
Speaker 1: like his motor just kept shutting off in the middle

460
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:30,320
Speaker 1: of the gate. He was the primary cause of their

461
00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:34,520
Speaker 1: transition defense issues jogging back. I literally watched him running

462
00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:37,000
Speaker 1: step for step with Jaron Jackson, with Jaron Jackson about

463
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,960
Speaker 1: one step in front of him, and he's clearly running

464
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:41,840
Speaker 1: right to the front of the rim. And instead of

465
00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:44,560
Speaker 1: Bullwolls sprinting to get in front of Jaron Jackson and

466
00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:47,040
Speaker 1: try to disrupt it, he just was content to jog

467
00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:49,399
Speaker 1: right behind him until a swing pass went right to

468
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,680
Speaker 1: Jaron Jackson. He got a dunk, multiple possessions where he's

469
00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:55,680
Speaker 1: just floating around guarding no one. He saw that Santi

470
00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:58,080
Speaker 1: al Dama like up and under, like double pump scoop

471
00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:00,840
Speaker 1: shot that he made just not match up in transition

472
00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:05,440
Speaker 1: Bull Bull just floating around guarding nobody. The like there

473
00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:08,600
Speaker 1: was the two buckets I talked about, the Jaron Jackson dunk,

474
00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,480
Speaker 1: there was another transition dunky or floater that he gave

475
00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:14,400
Speaker 1: up to Brandon Clark where he's just floating around guarding nobody.

476
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:16,600
Speaker 1: Next thing you know, Brandon Clark flashes to the front

477
00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:18,800
Speaker 1: of the rim and by the time bow Bull realizes

478
00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:21,439
Speaker 1: what's happening. Brandon Clark's already shooting a little floater right

479
00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:23,280
Speaker 1: in front of the rim that he makes. He just

480
00:23:23,359 --> 00:23:26,520
Speaker 1: wasn't paying attention. Like when he was paying attention, he

481
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:30,560
Speaker 1: was dominant, blocking shots, getting contested rebounds, making plays on offense.

482
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:32,439
Speaker 1: But it was literally like a it was like a

483
00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:34,679
Speaker 1: fifty to fifty shot, whether or not he'd be mentally

484
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:38,560
Speaker 1: or physically engaged in the possession. Like he had fourteen rebounds,

485
00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:40,840
Speaker 1: several plays where he got in the mix and beat

486
00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:43,800
Speaker 1: everyone to the ball because he has ludicrous physical tools,

487
00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,119
Speaker 1: but he gave up so many of those offensive rebounds

488
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:52,119
Speaker 1: to Memphis. I lost caim. He'd just be floating around

489
00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:54,320
Speaker 1: ten to fifteen feet from the rim, while like six

490
00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:56,520
Speaker 1: or seven dudes are under the basket fighting for a

491
00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,560
Speaker 1: loose ball. He's just not in there. It's like you've

492
00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:01,439
Speaker 1: got to get in there and go to war with

493
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,959
Speaker 1: your teammates. Possession by possession. It's a crucial one. Late

494
00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:06,960
Speaker 1: in the game. I tweeted the videout. You can go

495
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:09,280
Speaker 1: to my Twitter feet I underscore JCNLT. You can see

496
00:24:09,320 --> 00:24:14,240
Speaker 1: the example. He's just kind of standing around fifteen eighteen

497
00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:16,920
Speaker 1: feet from the basket on the left side, Brandon Clark

498
00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:18,840
Speaker 1: sprints right by him. There's all these dudes in this

499
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:22,000
Speaker 1: scrum under the basket. Him and Tyas Jones are both

500
00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:26,280
Speaker 1: just bouncing around eighteen feet from the basket, not guarding anybody,

501
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:29,199
Speaker 1: while Brandon Clark's getting an offensive rebound put back in

502
00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:32,080
Speaker 1: crunch time. It was a six point game in crunch time.

503
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:34,160
Speaker 1: But I want to be clear, it's not just bowl

504
00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:38,679
Speaker 1: bull ty Ty Washington zero for six from three. Obviously

505
00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:41,160
Speaker 1: heard he's a career twenty three point five percent from three,

506
00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:43,879
Speaker 1: though on ninety eight attempts as an NBA player, he

507
00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:46,840
Speaker 1: can't shoot. Also the decision making. He took a pull

508
00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:48,959
Speaker 1: up three in the first half when KD was asking

509
00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:51,000
Speaker 1: for the ball. A guy who couldn't shoot took a

510
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:53,359
Speaker 1: pull up three when KD was asking for the ball.

511
00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:55,240
Speaker 1: He shot a floater in transition when it was a

512
00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:57,200
Speaker 1: two on four when they had no numbers. He back

513
00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:00,760
Speaker 1: room didn't missed it. Mason Plummey out there, who just

514
00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:03,880
Speaker 1: fumbles away easy rebounds and has been a huge part

515
00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:06,560
Speaker 1: of their rebounding problems this season. Like, there's just a

516
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:11,400
Speaker 1: lot of limited players that probably shouldn't be in the rotation.

517
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:15,359
Speaker 1: For a serious team. There's a reason why Bull Bull

518
00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:19,639
Speaker 1: was available for the Suns. There's a reason why he

519
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:22,240
Speaker 1: hasn't been able to find a consistent home in the

520
00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:26,280
Speaker 1: NBA because despite his talent, he's not a possession to

521
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:28,320
Speaker 1: possession guy that you can trust to do his job.

522
00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:30,440
Speaker 1: So coaches don't trust him, so they don't want to

523
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:33,280
Speaker 1: play it. But then you like look on the other side,

524
00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:37,600
Speaker 1: and it's like for Memphis, they're built organically through the draft,

525
00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:40,879
Speaker 1: so they can afford to have many more good basketball

526
00:25:40,920 --> 00:25:44,520
Speaker 1: players on their team. They don't have a obvious weak

527
00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:47,600
Speaker 1: link in their top five. Phoenix has like five dudes

528
00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:50,160
Speaker 1: on their entire roster that they can really trust when

529
00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,560
Speaker 1: they're healthy, and most of them are redundant and do

530
00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:56,200
Speaker 1: the same job. Memphis is bench just rock solid. Santiel

531
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:58,840
Speaker 1: dam is awesome, Brandon Clark is better than any center

532
00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:02,280
Speaker 1: on the Sun's roster. Vince Williams can play. GJ. Jackson

533
00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:05,199
Speaker 1: can play, Scotty Pippen Junior can play, Luke Kennark can

534
00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:08,640
Speaker 1: shoot the basketball. It's just you got to look at

535
00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,400
Speaker 1: the reality of the roster here. Phoenix has a lot

536
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,880
Speaker 1: of players who aren't very good NBA players. And that's

537
00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:18,320
Speaker 1: why they're discounted, that's why they're available. You know, I've

538
00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,159
Speaker 1: thought a lot about this concept from the standpoint of

539
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,840
Speaker 1: like of how to go about the process of getting

540
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:30,600
Speaker 1: to a championship. You can't skip steps. You can't just

541
00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:34,760
Speaker 1: sign a few stars and go win a title. You

542
00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:38,600
Speaker 1: have to have organizational excellence. That is part of the

543
00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:41,399
Speaker 1: process of you getting those stars. That is part of

544
00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:45,920
Speaker 1: the process of you building out actually talented role players

545
00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:49,920
Speaker 1: to surround those guys with that organizational excellence, from the

546
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:53,680
Speaker 1: scouting department to the general manager, to the coaching staff,

547
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:56,879
Speaker 1: to the types of stars you're built around, to the

548
00:26:56,920 --> 00:26:58,959
Speaker 1: guys that end up coming up through the program as

549
00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:02,080
Speaker 1: part of that basketball character you're trying to build. That's

550
00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:04,159
Speaker 1: the kind of group that ends up playing basketball like

551
00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:07,200
Speaker 1: the Memphis Grizzlies do. And when you throw together three

552
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:09,600
Speaker 1: max players and one of them's not good at dirty

553
00:27:09,600 --> 00:27:12,600
Speaker 1: work and Bradley Beal and you're just looking for every

554
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:15,840
Speaker 1: single discount castaway in the NBA, you're gonna end up

555
00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:19,280
Speaker 1: having something that looks like this Phoenix Suns roster. And like,

556
00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:22,400
Speaker 1: here's the thing, as far as the margins go. One

557
00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,480
Speaker 1: of the things that makes a good basketball player. A

558
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:29,639
Speaker 1: good basketball player is their natural inclination to do the

559
00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:32,840
Speaker 1: dirty work. I've noticed this with the Lakers this year.

560
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,600
Speaker 1: They had no interest in doing it. But then here's

561
00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:42,399
Speaker 1: what happened. They traded a bad defender and D'Angelo Russell

562
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:46,840
Speaker 1: for Dorian Finney Smith, a good defender. Jared Vanderbilt, who

563
00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:50,440
Speaker 1: was hurt, got healthy. He's a fantastic defender. Those guys

564
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:54,200
Speaker 1: started guarding suddenly. Lebron got swept into it. Now he's

565
00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:57,520
Speaker 1: guarding now. All of a sudden, there's just more players

566
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:01,640
Speaker 1: on the team in the rotation that are professionals at

567
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:06,480
Speaker 1: doing their jobs on the margin, and it's completely galvanized

568
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:08,840
Speaker 1: a roster that was unwilling to do that work early

569
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:15,160
Speaker 1: in the season. Again, you cannot skip steps. Organizational excellence

570
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:18,960
Speaker 1: is the only way from the top down to actually

571
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:21,920
Speaker 1: get to the finish line in this league. It's okay

572
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:25,280
Speaker 1: to have a week point, but you can't have multiple

573
00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:27,480
Speaker 1: week points along the line. You can't have a week

574
00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:35,280
Speaker 1: front office and have your entire basketball culture inside the

575
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:37,560
Speaker 1: inside the locker room built around guys that aren't willing

576
00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:40,400
Speaker 1: to do that work. A couple other Memphis shoutouts before

577
00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:44,640
Speaker 1: we're done. I got Jared Jackson and John Moran and

578
00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:46,600
Speaker 1: desbon Bane all made huge plays in the clutch, and

579
00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:48,440
Speaker 1: this has been a consistent theme. Like when Memphis has

580
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:50,520
Speaker 1: struggled in the clutch this year, a lot of it

581
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:53,080
Speaker 1: does come down to that shot making, and when they

582
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:56,440
Speaker 1: do make shots, they win. Joh huge plays in this one,

583
00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:58,160
Speaker 1: that step back mid ranger that he had kind of

584
00:28:58,200 --> 00:29:00,840
Speaker 1: right around the right elbow, that driving transition layup we

585
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 1: talked about. Desmond Bain hit a huge pull up three

586
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:04,680
Speaker 1: coming off a screen at the top of the key.

587
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,800
Speaker 1: Big shot in that game. Jared Jackson like a couple

588
00:29:07,800 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 1: of big plays against KD and easy duck in where

589
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:12,680
Speaker 1: he just kind of bullied him, got to the spot,

590
00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:14,720
Speaker 1: hit a little hook over his left shoulder, then a

591
00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:16,560
Speaker 1: sweeping move across the middle of the lane where he

592
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:20,640
Speaker 1: drew a foul. Like those guys again, they're gonna go

593
00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:23,520
Speaker 1: as far as those guys go in terms of making shots.

594
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,560
Speaker 1: Sant santial Domo is really impressive. Big part of the

595
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:30,120
Speaker 1: early stretch that the Grizzlies went on to go on

596
00:29:30,160 --> 00:29:31,680
Speaker 1: a run. He had eleven points in like the first

597
00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 1: two minutes he was on the floor, and then Vince

598
00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,400
Speaker 1: Williams and Brandon Clark, they're just in order to punish

599
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:38,440
Speaker 1: the Suns for playing bad basketball, you had to be

600
00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:41,400
Speaker 1: playing really good, high motor basketball on your end, and

601
00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:43,320
Speaker 1: I thought Vince Williams and Brandon Clark were a huge

602
00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:45,120
Speaker 1: part of that. Shout out to the Grizzlies. That's a

603
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:47,680
Speaker 1: big win on the road there in Phoenix. All right, guys,

604
00:29:47,680 --> 00:29:49,400
Speaker 1: that is all I have for today is always sincerely

605
00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:51,800
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys for supporting me and supporting the show.

606
00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:55,600
Speaker 1: We've got two more nights of basketball before we get

607
00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:58,520
Speaker 1: into the trade deadline. We're gonna be covering those games

608
00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:00,000
Speaker 1: here and the next week we'll do some fun stuff

609
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:02,160
Speaker 1: to kill time before we get back into it again.

610
00:30:02,200 --> 00:30:04,080
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys for rocking with me and supporting

611
00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:09,360
Speaker 1: the show, and I'll see you tomorrow the volume. What's

612
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:11,680
Speaker 1: up guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening to

613
00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:14,840
Speaker 1: and supporting hoops tonight. It would actually be really helpful

614
00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:16,520
Speaker 1: for us if you guys would take a second and

615
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,480
Speaker 1: leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate

616
00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:20,960
Speaker 1: you guys supporting us, but if you could take a

617
00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:23,240
Speaker 1: minute to do that, i'd really appreciate it,