1
00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:06,960
Speaker 1: The volume. So it's twenty twenty four, and let's talk

2
00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:10,920
Speaker 1: about something really really important. If you're ever injured, check

3
00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:15,720
Speaker 1: out Morgan and Morgan's America's largest injury law firm, and

4
00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:19,320
Speaker 1: they're there for you. Over one hundred offices nationwide. Think

5
00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:23,120
Speaker 1: about that, more than a thousand lawyers with over twenty billion.

6
00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:26,520
Speaker 1: That's a b twenty billion dollars recovered for over five

7
00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:31,120
Speaker 1: hundred thousand clients. Things happen in life unexpectedly. Submitting an

8
00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:34,120
Speaker 1: injury claim with Morgan and Morgan is really really easy.

9
00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:36,440
Speaker 1: Like winning in the NFL is hard. We know that

10
00:00:36,560 --> 00:00:39,880
Speaker 1: quarterbacking in the NFL is hard, submitting a claim is easy.

11
00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:42,960
Speaker 1: You're ever injured, check out Morgan and Morgan. Their fee

12
00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:46,440
Speaker 1: is free unless they win. For more information, go to

13
00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:51,840
Speaker 1: for Thepeople dot com slash Colin or dial pound law

14
00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:53,120
Speaker 1: from your cell phone.

15
00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:53,920
Speaker 2: Pretty easy.

16
00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:57,520
Speaker 1: That's for the people dot com slash Colin or pound law,

17
00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:00,680
Speaker 1: pound five to nine from your cell Morgan Morgan has

18
00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:04,760
Speaker 1: a proven track record of fighting for you to get

19
00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:09,280
Speaker 1: a full and fair compensation if there's an unexpected accident

20
00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:10,039
Speaker 1: in your life.

21
00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:11,360
Speaker 2: This is a paid advertisement.

22
00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:19,200
Speaker 1: Well, they were favored to win gold, but There's been

23
00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:22,280
Speaker 1: a lot of storylines with Team USA at the Olympics

24
00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:28,880
Speaker 1: in France. Jason Timpf hoops tonight, who works about as

25
00:01:28,880 --> 00:01:32,080
Speaker 1: hard as anybody in this business. And I want to

26
00:01:32,120 --> 00:01:34,760
Speaker 1: start with Jason Tatum. So there's two reasons why a

27
00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:38,840
Speaker 1: normally good shooter doesn't shoot well. One his legs, he's tired.

28
00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,360
Speaker 1: That happens you go on a five games, eight day

29
00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:46,240
Speaker 1: Eastern road trip. You know you're an older player, back

30
00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:49,760
Speaker 1: to backs, so you lose your legs. The only other

31
00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:53,120
Speaker 1: way a good shooter shoots poorly usually is you lose

32
00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:56,800
Speaker 1: your confidence. We've seen Lebron, especially early in mid career,

33
00:01:56,960 --> 00:01:59,360
Speaker 1: like just lose his confidence in the three point shot.

34
00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:02,080
Speaker 1: He acknowledg that. Then he would say, okay, how about

35
00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:03,960
Speaker 1: to go score at the basket for about two games,

36
00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,040
Speaker 1: and then he would build it back up. Jason Tatum's

37
00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:09,480
Speaker 1: lost his jump shot, and I think it's and I

38
00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:12,640
Speaker 1: think what it is, it really is it defines who

39
00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:14,640
Speaker 1: he is. It's one thing that he didn't play in

40
00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:17,040
Speaker 1: one of the games. And I can get into that

41
00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:21,240
Speaker 1: in a second. But I believe the Celtics traded Marcus

42
00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:25,320
Speaker 1: Smart because their problem was Okay, It's one thing that

43
00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:29,880
Speaker 1: Tatum is slightly more skilled than Jason Jalen Brown. If

44
00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:32,200
Speaker 1: Jalen Brown takes over late in games, he's still a

45
00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:36,720
Speaker 1: great player. But when Marcus Smart also started taking the

46
00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:39,560
Speaker 1: ball out of his hands late, then it was a timeout.

47
00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:42,640
Speaker 1: This isn't gonna work, and they got him out of town.

48
00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:45,560
Speaker 1: They got a more talented player with the same skill

49
00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:50,280
Speaker 1: set defensively, Drew Holliday, who more understands his role he's

50
00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:52,880
Speaker 1: got in the bag. You know, it's a different player,

51
00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:56,919
Speaker 1: different mindset. And I think Brad Stevens has told us

52
00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:00,320
Speaker 1: time and time again the truth about Jason him.

53
00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:00,919
Speaker 2: He loves him.

54
00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,959
Speaker 1: He's smart, he works hard, he's collaborative. But in big

55
00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:09,720
Speaker 1: spots against great players or playing with great players, he

56
00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:13,200
Speaker 1: can kind of lose his confidence. And when I watch

57
00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:18,080
Speaker 1: him against Aalsunani, I'm like, where's what's going on? And

58
00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:21,760
Speaker 1: I don't think it's mechanics, Jason. I think it's a

59
00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:24,359
Speaker 1: confidence thing, and we're going to have to acknowledge this

60
00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:26,440
Speaker 1: is a little bit of who he is from time

61
00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:26,840
Speaker 1: to time.

62
00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:29,720
Speaker 3: Yeah, it goes deeper than the Drew Holiday thing. It

63
00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:32,480
Speaker 3: even extends to Porzingis because like the reality is is

64
00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:36,160
Speaker 3: those moves are aggressive in the sense that there is

65
00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:39,560
Speaker 3: actually some fallout. It's not just the draft compensation, although

66
00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,440
Speaker 3: they actually made out pretty well in terms of asset

67
00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:44,720
Speaker 3: usage in those deals, but it's a lot of it

68
00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:46,480
Speaker 3: has to do with the second apron. Like you, by

69
00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:49,320
Speaker 3: virtue of bringing those two guys in and making it

70
00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:51,960
Speaker 3: so that you have five thirty plus million dollar players

71
00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:54,880
Speaker 3: on your roster, you limit your ability to be flexible

72
00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:57,080
Speaker 3: in the future. And we talked a lot after the

73
00:03:57,080 --> 00:04:00,160
Speaker 3: twenty twenty two series about whether or not it is

74
00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:02,520
Speaker 3: one of those things where the Celtics could bank on

75
00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:06,240
Speaker 3: Tatum and Brown just improving naturally as time progressed, or

76
00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:08,200
Speaker 3: if there was a certain ceiling there and they needed

77
00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:10,400
Speaker 3: to be more aggressive. And to your point, I think

78
00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:12,960
Speaker 3: Brad Stevens has made that pretty clear with the moves

79
00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,320
Speaker 3: that he's made. He understands that Tatum is what he

80
00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:17,640
Speaker 3: is and that he does need a large amount of support.

81
00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:19,960
Speaker 3: And to Tatum's credit, I do think he's kind of

82
00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,000
Speaker 3: the perfect collaborative superstar because if you're playing on a

83
00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:24,720
Speaker 3: team that has that kind of talent, you don't want

84
00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:27,960
Speaker 3: a dude who's gonna hijack things and play super helio centric.

85
00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:28,960
Speaker 2: You want a ball mover.

86
00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:33,159
Speaker 3: And I do actually think there is something a little

87
00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:36,760
Speaker 3: bit mechanical going on with Tatum. I don't know if

88
00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:39,640
Speaker 3: it's from how much muscle he's put on that he's

89
00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:42,599
Speaker 3: just a little tight, or if he's tinkering with his

90
00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,080
Speaker 3: mechanics now because he's been missing, but his shot just

91
00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:47,599
Speaker 3: it looks like it has a little bit of a

92
00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:50,360
Speaker 3: hitch in it, like right is he's starting to gather.

93
00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:52,520
Speaker 3: And that is a little funky to me because this

94
00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:55,640
Speaker 3: extends beyond the Tmuosa stuff. As you mentioned, he's struggling

95
00:04:55,680 --> 00:04:58,680
Speaker 3: with Tmosa person Energy's oo for eleven on jump shots

96
00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:01,719
Speaker 3: in the x Phibition Games and the Olympic Games so

97
00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:04,160
Speaker 3: far with Team USA. But he took one hundred and

98
00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:06,599
Speaker 3: eighty eight jump shots in the playoffs and got just

99
00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:09,120
Speaker 3: one hundred and fifty one points out of them. That's

100
00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:11,720
Speaker 3: zero point eight points per shot, which is not good.

101
00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:15,120
Speaker 3: Anything below one point is bad, and he's well below

102
00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:17,560
Speaker 3: one point in a large sample side. So we're in

103
00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:22,119
Speaker 3: a extended span here of Tatum really struggling to shoot

104
00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:24,359
Speaker 3: the basketball. And like, there's two ways to look at that.

105
00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:26,280
Speaker 3: You could take a glass half full and be like, hey,

106
00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:28,640
Speaker 3: what if he figures it out this summer and then

107
00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:31,320
Speaker 3: we have the Celtics from last year plus Tatum shooting

108
00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:34,279
Speaker 3: the ball, Well, that's scary, right. But the other side

109
00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:36,360
Speaker 3: of it is if this is something, if this is

110
00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:38,160
Speaker 3: one of those things where it's an indicator of him

111
00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,839
Speaker 3: at this physical build struggling to shoot the basketball, it's

112
00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:43,520
Speaker 3: going to make it really difficult for him to impact

113
00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:45,840
Speaker 3: winning at the level of the top five players in

114
00:05:45,839 --> 00:05:47,440
Speaker 3: the league because when you go up into that group,

115
00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:50,159
Speaker 3: when you look at Shay, when you look at Luca, like,

116
00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:55,160
Speaker 3: the shooting at that position is incredibly valuable unless you're Yannis,

117
00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:59,080
Speaker 3: unless you're Jokic, and as physically gifted as Tatum is,

118
00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:02,320
Speaker 3: he's not like those guys. And so I'm just concerned

119
00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:04,960
Speaker 3: for him from the standpoint of, like, he needs to

120
00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:07,240
Speaker 3: be a good jump shooter to be a legitimate superstar

121
00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:07,880
Speaker 3: level player.

122
00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:12,920
Speaker 1: So let's talk Embiid who you know, when he comes

123
00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:15,839
Speaker 1: into the league, there was a sign early first couple

124
00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:18,240
Speaker 1: of years, can't play it unhealthy. So it's like, uh, oh,

125
00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:21,599
Speaker 1: Biggs get hurt early. Biggs usually get hurt often, So

126
00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:24,760
Speaker 1: he's always had an injury history, but most bigs eventually

127
00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:26,360
Speaker 1: do right, like almost all of them.

128
00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:27,359
Speaker 2: Y'aw ming shack.

129
00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:30,800
Speaker 1: You can just Greg odin sam BOUI couldn't get on

130
00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:34,279
Speaker 1: the floor, like it's the position. People probably aren't built

131
00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:37,159
Speaker 1: to last at seven to two, you know, or shack

132
00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:39,719
Speaker 1: size with those feet back. It wears out, like I

133
00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,919
Speaker 1: get it. But Embiid presents something else beyond the injuries,

134
00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:48,000
Speaker 1: and because he is more dynamic and more fun to

135
00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:50,440
Speaker 1: watch than Jokic or a Yiannis, and there was a

136
00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:54,360
Speaker 1: shack component with better ball handling skills. There is also

137
00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:57,360
Speaker 1: something that I find my eyes keep telling me this

138
00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,839
Speaker 1: when I watch the Sixers. Is that And the Olympics

139
00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:04,599
Speaker 1: just heightened this is that they can keep running coaches

140
00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:07,039
Speaker 1: through Philly and teammates through Philly. I mean even Ben

141
00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:08,839
Speaker 1: Simmons for a while he wasn an All Star like

142
00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:14,239
Speaker 1: his first year right, like Ben did have promise that, yeah,

143
00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:18,600
Speaker 1: Embiid really needs to stay close from the basket. So

144
00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:21,600
Speaker 1: coaches kind of pushed a D out for a couple

145
00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:25,280
Speaker 1: of years. It was like fashionable and ad didn't even

146
00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:27,840
Speaker 1: good shooting from out there. A D said I want

147
00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:30,520
Speaker 1: to go back, and he has been for two years.

148
00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:31,400
Speaker 2: A monster.

149
00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:33,440
Speaker 1: I mean, to me, the most underrated player in the

150
00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:35,520
Speaker 1: Olympics and the league right now is Ad.

151
00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:36,400
Speaker 2: He is just fun.

152
00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:39,720
Speaker 1: Turn the sound down, watch you can't if he's on

153
00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:43,520
Speaker 1: the floor. It's like Lebron, you can't take your eyes

154
00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:43,880
Speaker 1: off him.

155
00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:44,640
Speaker 2: He's dominant.

156
00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:51,480
Speaker 1: Embiid to me, somebody has to just acknowledge fella. Get

157
00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:55,160
Speaker 1: away from the perimeter. He fashions himself or is told

158
00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:59,680
Speaker 1: that he is such an important part sometimes a perimeter basketball.

159
00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:04,760
Speaker 1: He's big, he's aging, he's not as quick. I thought

160
00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:07,840
Speaker 1: he literally got in the way of this offense. I'd

161
00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:10,640
Speaker 1: seen it in Philly, but it was so profound with

162
00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:13,440
Speaker 1: this team. It bothered me. I'm screaming at the TV,

163
00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,720
Speaker 1: get him out of the game. Your thoughts on Embiid

164
00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:22,320
Speaker 1: and are any of these valid? That I watch him offensively.

165
00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:25,160
Speaker 1: I know the numbers probably say is great, but he

166
00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:28,760
Speaker 1: can he stops I just feel like he can stop

167
00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:30,000
Speaker 1: offenses too often.

168
00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:31,920
Speaker 2: So it's both.

169
00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,040
Speaker 3: It's the jump shot and it's the ball movement piece

170
00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:36,240
Speaker 3: the jump shot piece. This has been a consistent story

171
00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:38,679
Speaker 3: and Embiad's career, especially over the previous couple of years.

172
00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:40,920
Speaker 3: This last year, he actually shot the ball okay against

173
00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:43,680
Speaker 3: the Knicks, But like in the previous couple of seasons,

174
00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:46,600
Speaker 3: he would shoot like fifty percent on these like mid

175
00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:49,480
Speaker 3: range pull up jump shots in the regular season, but

176
00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:51,240
Speaker 3: then he'd get in front of Al Horford and he

177
00:08:51,240 --> 00:08:54,000
Speaker 3: couldn't make them like he would he would struggle to

178
00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:55,640
Speaker 3: knock him down in the postseas. That was a consistent

179
00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:57,120
Speaker 3: theme and be you to get to the postseason, his

180
00:08:57,200 --> 00:08:59,280
Speaker 3: jump shot would go away. And one of the biggest

181
00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:01,680
Speaker 3: things that he ever built out the way Jokic did

182
00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:04,880
Speaker 3: is those short range shots, the hooks, the floaters, all

183
00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:09,400
Speaker 3: that stuff that's within like exactly, and those are way

184
00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:12,199
Speaker 3: more dependable in this kind of setting. The second piece

185
00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:15,160
Speaker 3: of it is learning how to play basketball with other people.

186
00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:17,280
Speaker 3: This is a this is an epidemic around the league

187
00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:19,360
Speaker 3: with certain guys, and we see this. It's kind of

188
00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:20,959
Speaker 3: like this with Luca a little bit with more of

189
00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:22,760
Speaker 3: a perimeter sense, but we see it with him need

190
00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:26,360
Speaker 3: where it's like as long as everything is flowing through

191
00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:30,160
Speaker 3: him and he's deciding every single possession, he has this

192
00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:32,160
Speaker 3: otherworldly value as almost like.

193
00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:33,120
Speaker 2: A force of nature.

194
00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:35,960
Speaker 3: So for instance, if you took ad or Bam and

195
00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,600
Speaker 3: you put them on last year's Sixers team with Tyrese Maxi.

196
00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:42,240
Speaker 3: They're not as good because you can't just give the

197
00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:45,440
Speaker 3: ball to Ad and Bam like every single possession and

198
00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:47,760
Speaker 3: ask them to determine outcomes. They're not good enough on

199
00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:50,240
Speaker 3: the offensive end of the floor. But when you're actually

200
00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:53,679
Speaker 3: playing with people other good basketball players, and this will

201
00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:55,720
Speaker 3: be really interesting this year with Paul George now in

202
00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:58,720
Speaker 3: the equation when you actually need to keep everybody in

203
00:09:58,800 --> 00:10:02,160
Speaker 3: rhythm and there's ball in player movement, and Be for

204
00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:05,520
Speaker 3: lack of a better term, sucks at that style of basketball.

205
00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:09,679
Speaker 3: He doesn't know how to play quick decision making flowing

206
00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:12,720
Speaker 3: from side to side, and especially at the center position

207
00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:15,920
Speaker 3: in modern NBA basketball, when you play five out, the

208
00:10:15,960 --> 00:10:19,280
Speaker 3: center is the bridge between the two sides of the floor.

209
00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:21,440
Speaker 3: He's the guy who has to catch and turn and

210
00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:23,720
Speaker 3: go to the other guard and flow on the other side.

211
00:10:23,800 --> 00:10:26,280
Speaker 3: So when you're trying to keep Booker and Steph and

212
00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:28,839
Speaker 3: Lebron and all these guys in rhythm at the same time,

213
00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:31,440
Speaker 3: it's better to have a guy like Ad who his

214
00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:34,319
Speaker 3: entire life has been a screen and roll big. He's

215
00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:36,000
Speaker 3: going to pitch the ball to the other side, set

216
00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:37,800
Speaker 3: a screen, roll hard to the rim, run up and

217
00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:40,560
Speaker 3: down the floor, and transition. It's a foot speed thing.

218
00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:43,040
Speaker 3: It's a decision making thing. You put him in this

219
00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:46,439
Speaker 3: setting and it's just a completely different kind of basketball

220
00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:48,240
Speaker 3: than what he was doing for the Sixers last year.

221
00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:51,880
Speaker 3: And it's quite frankly, he has years of needing to

222
00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:53,880
Speaker 3: learn how to play that style if he's ever going

223
00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:56,360
Speaker 3: to play in more of a five out, read and

224
00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:57,959
Speaker 3: react type of system.

225
00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,600
Speaker 1: So during COPA, team you I say struggled, and I

226
00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:05,319
Speaker 1: not to make an excuse or defend Greg Berholt or

227
00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:08,800
Speaker 1: the coach at the time, but our style is more European.

228
00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:11,760
Speaker 1: We have more players now soccer players in America playing

229
00:11:11,800 --> 00:11:17,360
Speaker 1: in Europe and flourishing. So COPA is a smaller, shorter field.

230
00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:20,800
Speaker 1: It didn't play to our space, our strength, which is

231
00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,120
Speaker 1: speed and spacing. So as we've become more skilled and

232
00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:28,079
Speaker 1: more European, which is the Goldwyn World Cup, COPA has

233
00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:30,559
Speaker 1: become a bad tournament for US, which is a grittier,

234
00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:36,840
Speaker 1: lower ranked teams, more physical soccer. Similarly, Steph with FEBA

235
00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,360
Speaker 1: three point shooting is almost it plays with your head,

236
00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:44,000
Speaker 1: it's closer, it's more physical you don't get the whistle.

237
00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:47,840
Speaker 1: More physicality allowed. And as I watched Steph struggle, it's

238
00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:50,480
Speaker 1: not like Tatum struggling, It's not a confidence issue. It's

239
00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:56,640
Speaker 1: a is it possible that FIBA Olympic basketball isn't really

240
00:11:57,200 --> 00:12:00,319
Speaker 1: it's not really built necessarily for Steph all the time.

241
00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:03,800
Speaker 1: I mean, Lebron's good everywhere, But as Steff struggles, I'm

242
00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:06,240
Speaker 1: how do I reconcile that he's a great shooter? It's

243
00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:08,360
Speaker 1: closer he should be shooting the lights out he's not.

244
00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:13,600
Speaker 3: Why So Sudan in particular, and I think their reputation

245
00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:17,560
Speaker 3: obviously that them as an organization within FIBA don't have

246
00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:20,080
Speaker 3: the reputation of the other great European teams or South

247
00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:22,400
Speaker 3: American teams that we faced over the years, Like even

248
00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:24,440
Speaker 3: back in the old days when it was like Argentina,

249
00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:26,880
Speaker 3: you know that that was or France that was given

250
00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:28,880
Speaker 3: his issues, they don't have that history. But I think

251
00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:31,040
Speaker 3: South Sudan is the most athletic team in this field

252
00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:34,360
Speaker 3: by far, Like they have just an enormous amount of

253
00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:38,360
Speaker 3: fast dudes with really long wingspans. They're athletic by NBA standards,

254
00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:41,280
Speaker 3: let alone by the Phoebe standards. And so if you

255
00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:43,400
Speaker 3: remember last year when Golden State needed to get some

256
00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:45,280
Speaker 3: big wins down the stretch of the season, the two

257
00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:47,120
Speaker 3: teams that were giving them a lot of trouble were

258
00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:50,000
Speaker 3: Sacramento and New Orleans, two teams that were really fast

259
00:12:50,040 --> 00:12:52,440
Speaker 3: and really long on the perimeter. And that's like kind

260
00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:55,240
Speaker 3: of one of those things. Whereas Steph has aged, he's

261
00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:58,520
Speaker 3: become a little bit susceptible to specific types of matchups,

262
00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:02,400
Speaker 3: particularly teams that are closing those gaps on him. And

263
00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:04,800
Speaker 3: then the piece you mentioned about spacing is real, like

264
00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:08,079
Speaker 3: the lack of a defensive three seconds is a real

265
00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:11,000
Speaker 3: thing that people are factoring in. So to put it simply,

266
00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:13,439
Speaker 3: the vast majority of teams, when they're spacing, will put

267
00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:15,960
Speaker 3: their big man on the opposite block from where the

268
00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:19,600
Speaker 3: ball is. And so with defensive three seconds, that defender

269
00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:22,480
Speaker 3: has to step in and out of the lane on

270
00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:25,960
Speaker 3: the far end of the court, whereas in FIBA he

271
00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:28,680
Speaker 3: can park his ass right underneath the basket and he

272
00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:31,120
Speaker 3: doesn't have to move at all whatsoever. And so this,

273
00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:33,520
Speaker 3: by the way, is why I'm far more concerned about

274
00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:37,400
Speaker 3: teams like Germany and France or even Serbia against USA

275
00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:39,480
Speaker 3: than a team like Canada who just doesn't have the

276
00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:43,000
Speaker 3: bigs to deal with USA underneath the basket. Teams that

277
00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:45,880
Speaker 3: can park big bodies under the rim can force you

278
00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:47,720
Speaker 3: to make jump shots. And as soon as you force

279
00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:49,960
Speaker 3: a team to make jump shots, they can go cold.

280
00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:52,199
Speaker 3: They can have issues, which is what happening in South

281
00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:54,600
Speaker 3: Sudan last time. But yeah, as far as Steph goes

282
00:13:54,640 --> 00:13:57,040
Speaker 3: like he, I mean, we let's put it. Let's put

283
00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:00,000
Speaker 3: it straight up, Colin. He struggled most of the tail

284
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,040
Speaker 3: end of the season last year too, So this is

285
00:14:03,080 --> 00:14:07,040
Speaker 3: an extension of that. And I'm really hoping as a

286
00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:09,839
Speaker 3: basketball fan that this is just a blip and he's

287
00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:11,480
Speaker 3: going to figure it out, because I really want the

288
00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:12,960
Speaker 3: Warriors to be interesting next year.

289
00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:13,960
Speaker 2: Yeah.

290
00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:16,360
Speaker 1: You know, when you have a bunch of kids, I

291
00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:20,240
Speaker 1: have six in my life, the early years can be

292
00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:23,680
Speaker 1: frustrating and a lot of work. But what's fascinating about

293
00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:28,160
Speaker 1: the early years is kids make giants social and emotional

294
00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:31,800
Speaker 1: and physical leaps in nine months. I mean, my son

295
00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:35,160
Speaker 1: had a biting stage, he had a coughing stage where

296
00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:38,120
Speaker 1: he would make coughing noises, and I always told my wife,

297
00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:41,320
Speaker 1: I'm like, it's just just nine year old boys go

298
00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:45,600
Speaker 1: through weird, weird you know cycle phases.

299
00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:47,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, they just do.

300
00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:51,200
Speaker 1: Like and I want to use that as as sort

301
00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:54,480
Speaker 1: of a pivot to watching young NBA players, is that

302
00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:57,400
Speaker 1: when they're eighteen, nineteen twenty, the players just come back

303
00:14:57,440 --> 00:14:59,680
Speaker 1: of an off and off season and you're like, damn,

304
00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:04,200
Speaker 1: he got a jumper. So I'm watching Wemby and I

305
00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:07,520
Speaker 1: feel like I'm watching a kid grow, Like I'm watching

306
00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:09,800
Speaker 1: him in some of these games and I'm like, oh,

307
00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:13,880
Speaker 1: this is terrifying for the league. Like he you go

308
00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:18,400
Speaker 1: to his first month in the league and now Jason offensively,

309
00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:23,040
Speaker 1: he plays with so much more confidence. Defensively, he's blocking

310
00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:28,040
Speaker 1: stuff with his elbow. He is now way more aggressive

311
00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,560
Speaker 1: and asserting himself. And I'm watching this and I'm like

312
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:34,920
Speaker 1: I said by the Trade Deadline. I said this on

313
00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:37,960
Speaker 1: our previous podcast, By the Trade Deadline, he and Ann

314
00:15:38,760 --> 00:15:41,120
Speaker 1: will be the faces of the league. I'm not sure

315
00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:43,600
Speaker 1: it's going to take that long. Like Jokich is still

316
00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:47,640
Speaker 1: the best player. His ability to not only dominate but

317
00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:50,320
Speaker 1: compliment other players and elevate them it kind of separates

318
00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:51,320
Speaker 1: Lebron's magic.

319
00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:52,080
Speaker 2: Certain guys.

320
00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:54,600
Speaker 1: I would say Michael didn't make everybody better, not every

321
00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:58,760
Speaker 1: teammate Lebron, Magic Jokic, Chris Paul, every teammate's better. You

322
00:15:58,760 --> 00:16:01,040
Speaker 1: play her best with him, get Chris ball with Wemby.

323
00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:05,040
Speaker 1: But I'm watching him, and maybe it's maybe I don't

324
00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:08,000
Speaker 1: see him as much as you do. I'm seeing major

325
00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:11,640
Speaker 1: jumps from Wemby even in these Olympics.

326
00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,080
Speaker 3: No. Absolutely, they've been running a lot more offense through

327
00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:16,640
Speaker 3: him than you would expect. And a big part of

328
00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:19,600
Speaker 3: that is France doesn't have an amazing guard corps like

329
00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:21,720
Speaker 3: Evan Fournier is their best guard, a guy who couldn't

330
00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:23,760
Speaker 3: crack the rotation for the Knicks last year, right, so like,

331
00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:26,760
Speaker 3: but what they're doing in a lot of cases is

332
00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:30,360
Speaker 3: they're feeding him at the elbow and they're like running

333
00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:32,680
Speaker 3: literally ball screens like the way you would typically with

334
00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:35,680
Speaker 3: a point guard in a center. They're running with him

335
00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:38,400
Speaker 3: and Gobaer at the foul line, and they're letting him

336
00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:41,120
Speaker 3: determine the outcome of possessions. They're throwing it to him

337
00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:46,160
Speaker 3: down on the blocks. He's become a lot quicker at

338
00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:49,000
Speaker 3: like reading the floor and making reads then I would

339
00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:50,680
Speaker 3: expect a player at his age. And part of this

340
00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:52,240
Speaker 3: I think has a lot to do with him playing

341
00:16:52,280 --> 00:16:55,280
Speaker 3: professionally as opposed to coming up through the college system.

342
00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:56,920
Speaker 3: Like he's just been around a lot of really smart

343
00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,720
Speaker 3: basketball minds in his development. The big ones that stands

344
00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:03,960
Speaker 3: out is the dude is just a savage competitor and

345
00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:06,440
Speaker 3: is not scared of the moment. Like he was kind

346
00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:08,520
Speaker 3: of on the back burner for a good portion of

347
00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:11,000
Speaker 3: that second half against Japan, and then it went to

348
00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:13,960
Speaker 3: ot and he just took over. Immediately was demanding the

349
00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:16,520
Speaker 3: ball in the block, got an and one, he missed

350
00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:18,760
Speaker 3: a three on the right wing, and then immediately called

351
00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:20,359
Speaker 3: for the ball back and knocked one down at the

352
00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:23,720
Speaker 3: top of the key. He's got like just incredible scoring

353
00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:26,880
Speaker 3: polish all over the floor. He's handling physicality really really well.

354
00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:30,360
Speaker 3: Obviously you mentioned the defensive stuff. It's hard to even describe.

355
00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:32,320
Speaker 3: It doesn't even look like other NBA players that have

356
00:17:32,359 --> 00:17:33,080
Speaker 3: come before him.

357
00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:33,919
Speaker 2: I'm with you.

358
00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:36,199
Speaker 3: I think I think we got to think long and

359
00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:38,720
Speaker 3: hard about him being a top ten player right now,

360
00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:41,440
Speaker 3: right now, and then and right now, and I think

361
00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:44,280
Speaker 3: by the deadline next year, we could be talking about

362
00:17:44,280 --> 00:17:46,600
Speaker 3: a guy who's who's second team All NBA, Like This

363
00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:49,320
Speaker 3: is a real, a real potential outcome for him in

364
00:17:49,359 --> 00:17:50,280
Speaker 3: the short term.

365
00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:54,960
Speaker 1: Now for a segment called making It Look Easy, brought

366
00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:58,840
Speaker 1: to you by Morgan and Morgan, America's largest injury law firm,

367
00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:01,840
Speaker 1: BAM Gonna Buy You Team USA made it look easy.

368
00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:05,000
Speaker 1: Couple of corner threes, eighteen point seven rebounds over the

369
00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:09,720
Speaker 1: win against South Sudan at the Olympics in Paris. Well,

370
00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:11,959
Speaker 1: just like BAM made it look easy, so does Morgan

371
00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:15,040
Speaker 1: and Morgan. They have over one hundred offices nationwide. They

372
00:18:15,119 --> 00:18:20,480
Speaker 1: fight for you and fair compensation. Over fifteen billion dollars

373
00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:23,879
Speaker 1: recovered with over three hundred thousand clients through the years.

374
00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:27,879
Speaker 1: With Morgan and Morgan fighting for the people for three

375
00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:32,679
Speaker 1: and a half decades, thirty five years, America's largest injury

376
00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:36,080
Speaker 1: law firm. If you're ever injured, go to Fourthpeople dot

377
00:18:36,119 --> 00:18:38,680
Speaker 1: com slash Colin That's me for the People dot com

378
00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:43,200
Speaker 1: slash Colin, or dial pound five to nine to check

379
00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:47,200
Speaker 1: out America's largest injury law firm. Winning gold medals is hard.

380
00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:57,600
Speaker 1: Hiring Morgan and Morgan is easy. You know. It's you

381
00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:01,440
Speaker 1: put a bunch of alphas together and some alphas will

382
00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:05,879
Speaker 1: shrink and some alphas will rise. Lebron is now the

383
00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:10,520
Speaker 1: best player on this team. It's like it's now, it's

384
00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:14,320
Speaker 1: gone past. But what's interesting is that Nick Wright said

385
00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:16,080
Speaker 1: this to me today on the show in FS one.

386
00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:20,800
Speaker 1: He said, deep down, Lebron may realize these are the

387
00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:24,879
Speaker 1: last games of his career that people are really gonna watch,

388
00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:29,040
Speaker 1: like have a huge audience and are gonna matter and listen.

389
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:31,880
Speaker 1: You and I have been critical of the executive wing

390
00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:34,879
Speaker 1: of the Lakers. Ad and Lebron on any given game

391
00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:37,720
Speaker 1: that I've watched, Team USA are the two best players

392
00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,959
Speaker 1: and they're struggling to win a playoff game. It's really frustrating.

393
00:19:42,359 --> 00:19:44,200
Speaker 1: There's Jeremy Grant may come to town.

394
00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:44,760
Speaker 2: He would be.

395
00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:48,000
Speaker 1: A solid three, a better a four on a really

396
00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:49,960
Speaker 1: really good team. He's probably a four, not a three.

397
00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:53,119
Speaker 1: But be that as it may. But I as I

398
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:58,040
Speaker 1: watched Lebron, what it tells me is he's not having

399
00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:02,240
Speaker 1: to fight to be the alpha. He is so respected

400
00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:06,239
Speaker 1: that other young players are like, hey, big fella, you

401
00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:10,600
Speaker 1: run the offense. I mean, I mean like Magic and

402
00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:14,080
Speaker 1: Michael when they went together, they were fighting. They Magic

403
00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:16,359
Speaker 1: didn't want to give up the baton. Michael grabbed it

404
00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:21,280
Speaker 1: like even Ant all these guys, it's like, no, no,

405
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:25,080
Speaker 1: this is Lebron's. This is Lebron's world. And I know

406
00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:28,160
Speaker 1: you're not surprised by it, but it it does jump

407
00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:29,320
Speaker 1: out of the TV, does it not.

408
00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:34,359
Speaker 3: I'm glad everyone's seeing it too. First of all, to

409
00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:36,840
Speaker 3: what Nick said, I agree. I think Lebron has always

410
00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:40,399
Speaker 3: been very aware of the narrative surrounding him, and I

411
00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:43,840
Speaker 3: think that he saw an opportunity here to be like,

412
00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:45,879
Speaker 3: if I am the best player on Team USA, it

413
00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:48,639
Speaker 3: will resonate with people for a long time. And for

414
00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:50,359
Speaker 3: the record, I think Lebron came right out of the

415
00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:52,199
Speaker 3: season and started prepping forward. He looks like he's in

416
00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:52,920
Speaker 3: great shape.

417
00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:56,720
Speaker 2: He is flexing every other time down the floor.

418
00:20:57,119 --> 00:21:00,600
Speaker 3: I know, like he's he clearly prepped for this as

419
00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:02,960
Speaker 3: though it was an NBA playoff run. Like that is

420
00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:06,080
Speaker 3: abundantly clear. And he's and he's playing at that crazy

421
00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:08,119
Speaker 3: high level. I'm glad you mentioned the Lakers because like

422
00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,480
Speaker 3: so many people are like, oh, they're they're a playing team.

423
00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:12,800
Speaker 3: They're this, they're that, and it's like, guys, the reason

424
00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:15,440
Speaker 3: they're a playing team is they don't have a single

425
00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:18,520
Speaker 3: player on the roster other than Lebron and Ad who

426
00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:21,320
Speaker 3: can play both ends of the floor. That's literally why

427
00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:24,199
Speaker 3: they've struggled. It is a personnel issue. It is not

428
00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:27,400
Speaker 3: a Lebron James and Anthony Davis issue. Those two pull

429
00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:29,840
Speaker 3: their weight. They pulled their weight in a major way

430
00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:32,880
Speaker 3: last season, and the organization is what let them down.

431
00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:35,000
Speaker 3: And so I don't really see it that way. As

432
00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:39,280
Speaker 3: far as as far as Lebron with his team USA context,

433
00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:42,560
Speaker 3: what's been super fascinating from a basketball perspective is what

434
00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:45,480
Speaker 3: you're seeing is what it would look like to run

435
00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:48,359
Speaker 3: five out offense with all the ball and player movements,

436
00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:51,560
Speaker 3: Steph lying off of screens with the best playmaker of

437
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:53,720
Speaker 3: this era kind of orchestrating it at the top of

438
00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,719
Speaker 3: the key. He's not taking a ton of shots. He's

439
00:21:56,760 --> 00:21:58,719
Speaker 3: seeing his openings and he's shooting the gap and he's

440
00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:02,359
Speaker 3: attacking the basket. But they're ducking under all those picks

441
00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:05,080
Speaker 3: at the top of the key. He's not jacking up

442
00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:08,760
Speaker 3: threes and hijacking possessions. He's just reading the floor as

443
00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:11,160
Speaker 3: Steph is running around and as Devin Booker's running around

444
00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:13,080
Speaker 3: and waiting for guys to make mistakes. One of the

445
00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:16,280
Speaker 3: most classic decisions that you'll see from that part of

446
00:22:16,320 --> 00:22:18,359
Speaker 3: the floor is Steph runs off a screen and the

447
00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:21,399
Speaker 3: guy screens for him. If those defenders make a mistake,

448
00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:24,040
Speaker 3: that guy can slip it, and Lebron is just making

449
00:22:24,119 --> 00:22:26,840
Speaker 3: reads based on what the mistake the defense has made.

450
00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 3: And so it's kind of like a juiced up version

451
00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:31,920
Speaker 3: of Draymond with the Warriors, but surrounded by all of these,

452
00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:34,439
Speaker 3: you know, world class types of players, and it's been

453
00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:36,800
Speaker 3: the perfect role for him. And then, quite frankly to

454
00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:39,359
Speaker 3: your point, and this is where it gets really scary, Colin,

455
00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:44,440
Speaker 3: I would argue KAD and Lebron and Steph have been

456
00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:49,040
Speaker 3: the only consistent offensive forces on this team, and we've

457
00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:53,719
Speaker 3: been disappointed by Jason Tatum. Anthony Edwards has given us

458
00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:56,280
Speaker 3: some mixed results. There's been good games, there's been bad games.

459
00:22:56,640 --> 00:23:00,240
Speaker 3: I think it's just a bad look that if you're

460
00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:02,960
Speaker 3: in the year twenty twenty four, Steph, Lebron and KD

461
00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:06,000
Speaker 3: are playing the way they are and the younger generation

462
00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:08,359
Speaker 3: is struggling to keep up. It's like, thank god for

463
00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:10,720
Speaker 3: Ad and Band being as good as they've been, because

464
00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,639
Speaker 3: it's just been It's been a disappointing performance from some

465
00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:15,040
Speaker 3: of the younger American players.

466
00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:16,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, it has.

467
00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:19,240
Speaker 1: And I let me just say this again, is that

468
00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:22,280
Speaker 1: I do a segment every week called Colin Wright Colin Wrong.

469
00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:24,760
Speaker 1: And I wish somebody in politics did it because I

470
00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:27,200
Speaker 1: don't think being right should be the be all end all.

471
00:23:27,119 --> 00:23:27,840
Speaker 2: Of being a host.

472
00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:31,960
Speaker 1: Being interesting and informative and being fun should And I

473
00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:35,200
Speaker 1: was so anti ad when we started doing this podcast together.

474
00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:37,520
Speaker 1: I went, like two years, I'm like, it's a dad bod.

475
00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:39,560
Speaker 1: He doesn't work out, he's out of shape, he never

476
00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:42,680
Speaker 1: plays hurt. And some of that was confirmation biased because

477
00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:44,320
Speaker 1: I had said I had heard that going in, and

478
00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:48,000
Speaker 1: he became it. The last two years he is aft.

479
00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:51,040
Speaker 1: Take Jokichow. I'm not sure there's a big eye take

480
00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:55,720
Speaker 1: over him, including Jannis. I. I mean, I always use

481
00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:59,399
Speaker 1: this rule. There are time when you turn the sound

482
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,400
Speaker 1: down of a game when and I'll use Magic Johnson

483
00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:05,600
Speaker 1: when more than Michael, when Magic was on the floor,

484
00:24:05,640 --> 00:24:09,320
Speaker 1: he had the ball so much unmistakable, you can literally just.

485
00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:10,760
Speaker 2: Go, Magic's there. Magic's there.

486
00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:13,480
Speaker 1: Magic literally was a six to nine point and then

487
00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:15,720
Speaker 1: Lebron comes in and he kind of plays points. So

488
00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:17,639
Speaker 1: the point guard you always kind of knows on the floor,

489
00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:21,880
Speaker 1: but a lot of times forwards, especially guys who aren't

490
00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:28,199
Speaker 1: aesthetically beautiful games, you cannot mistake Anthony Davis in a

491
00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:33,480
Speaker 1: game dominant defender. He's gotten significantly more physical.

492
00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:34,520
Speaker 2: To me, I don't know what.

493
00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:38,240
Speaker 1: Happened, but he was almost This is weird. He was

494
00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:42,919
Speaker 1: a rugged finesse player, like you'd be like run over people.

495
00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:43,479
Speaker 2: Dude.

496
00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:47,040
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is, but when I watch him,

497
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:51,919
Speaker 1: he goes after people. He attacks players. Now, some of

498
00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:54,360
Speaker 1: this he's playing against second team guys in this space,

499
00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:59,240
Speaker 1: but he's aggressive against Jokic, and I just think to myself,

500
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,399
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is, but it does prove

501
00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:08,720
Speaker 1: young people improve, young people are coachable. Young people here criticism.

502
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:11,040
Speaker 1: This is weird because he was already good, but he's

503
00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:13,680
Speaker 1: one of the most improved players, and he did it

504
00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:17,880
Speaker 1: like as an established great player. To me, he's taken

505
00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:21,560
Speaker 1: another level. This is the ad we thought we were

506
00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:24,080
Speaker 1: getting out of college, and he just wasn't emotionally ready

507
00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:24,359
Speaker 1: for it.

508
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:27,239
Speaker 3: I think the injuries played a role. Like to your

509
00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:30,680
Speaker 3: point about I agree, Like in that twenty twenty one,

510
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:34,439
Speaker 3: the twenty twenty two stretch. He was kind of like

511
00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:37,160
Speaker 3: a finesse dude that was really big, but it didn't

512
00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:39,400
Speaker 3: seem like he was inflicting it on people. But in

513
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,080
Speaker 3: his defense, he had like repeated ankle injuries and he

514
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,440
Speaker 3: had an achilles injury during that time. So I really

515
00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,840
Speaker 3: think Ad just didn't trust his body. And I think

516
00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:50,480
Speaker 3: the reason why we're seeing him be so physically dominant

517
00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:53,399
Speaker 3: now is he just is in a really good physical place,

518
00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,320
Speaker 3: and I think that's gone a long way towards helping

519
00:25:56,359 --> 00:25:59,520
Speaker 3: him facilitate that you mentioned it bouncing off the screen.

520
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,359
Speaker 3: It's crazy, like his block that he had on one

521
00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:04,919
Speaker 3: of the first possessions against Sudan, he he just just

522
00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:07,600
Speaker 3: pogo sticks above everybody, or that dunk he had on

523
00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,200
Speaker 3: the feed from KD tonight where he takes off from

524
00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:12,240
Speaker 3: the foul line off of two feet and just throws

525
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:16,320
Speaker 3: it down clean. He just has the craziest combination of

526
00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:19,520
Speaker 3: like length and mobility in the league, still even at

527
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:22,320
Speaker 3: his phase of his career where he's a little bit

528
00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:24,119
Speaker 3: bigger and not quite as mobile as he was when

529
00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:25,679
Speaker 3: he was younger, and and you know, at the end

530
00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:28,280
Speaker 3: of the day, like a lot of the focus has

531
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:30,560
Speaker 3: been on what he hasn't been since the bubble, Like

532
00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:32,880
Speaker 3: he hasn't been knocking down all these crazy jump shots

533
00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:34,880
Speaker 3: the way he did in the bubble. And that's true,

534
00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:37,800
Speaker 3: but he's improved so much as a passers overall fear

535
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:40,000
Speaker 3: feel for the game. He is a lot better at

536
00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:42,160
Speaker 3: those short shots, like the stuff I was talking about

537
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:45,280
Speaker 3: with em beat. Ad was well over fifty percent on

538
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:47,320
Speaker 3: hooks and floaters last year. That's what he does. And

539
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:50,400
Speaker 3: to your point about attacking lower level bigs in FEBA,

540
00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,359
Speaker 3: he was awesome against Jokich. He was awesome most of

541
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:56,640
Speaker 3: the tail end of the season. Ad has been playing

542
00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,560
Speaker 3: in the calendar year, Calendar year twenty twenty four, he's

543
00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:01,679
Speaker 3: been playing at an MVP level and he deserves more

544
00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:02,320
Speaker 3: credit for them.

545
00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:05,399
Speaker 1: Yeah, in a weird way, you watch more film than

546
00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:08,119
Speaker 1: I do. I wonder if it wasn't this when he

547
00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:10,359
Speaker 1: was a perimeter player, when he was almost forced to

548
00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:12,840
Speaker 1: go outside, it was like, well, he doesn't want to

549
00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:15,680
Speaker 1: play five, so instead of just backing up three feet,

550
00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:18,560
Speaker 1: let's back him up nine and go shoot threes. He

551
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:21,920
Speaker 1: ended up slashing to the basket a lot. He ended

552
00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:25,240
Speaker 1: up being a bit of a slasher and when you

553
00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:30,160
Speaker 1: slash and go to the floor, you fall hard. When

554
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:32,720
Speaker 1: you take out the perimeter, he's much more around the

555
00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:36,800
Speaker 1: free throw line route. He's not slashing as much, and

556
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:38,760
Speaker 1: therefore he's not crashing as much.

557
00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:39,600
Speaker 2: And I'm just.

558
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:42,160
Speaker 1: Throwing this out there because he went through a stage

559
00:27:42,160 --> 00:27:44,120
Speaker 1: with a Lakers that like he was just hitting the

560
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:48,600
Speaker 1: floor hard, like three times a night, and it just

561
00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:50,919
Speaker 1: and he's playing twice as physical and doesn't hit the

562
00:27:50,920 --> 00:27:53,880
Speaker 1: floor as often. So I do wonder. I do wonder

563
00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:58,120
Speaker 1: a little bit, Jason if as he's reduced his perimeter touches,

564
00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:01,120
Speaker 1: he's just not in a position to have to race

565
00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:03,760
Speaker 1: inside for the rebound, put the ball on the floor,

566
00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:06,119
Speaker 1: come off a screen that he's just not in position

567
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:09,320
Speaker 1: to crack because he hits the floor occasionally. But it

568
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:12,720
Speaker 1: was like an epidemic those bubble years. It's like you

569
00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:15,480
Speaker 1: would watch a Laker game at least twice you would wins.

570
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:17,480
Speaker 1: You're like, oh, he's not getting up like that.

571
00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:20,320
Speaker 2: That's he doesn't seem to do that as much.

572
00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:22,800
Speaker 3: I think that's completely fair, and I think a huge

573
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:24,960
Speaker 3: part of it is roster construct. I mean, for going

574
00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:27,879
Speaker 3: from that, JaVale McGee, Dwhite, Howard group, where like like

575
00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:31,119
Speaker 3: Ady was playing the vast majority of his minutes at

576
00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:34,000
Speaker 3: the four in that twenty twenty year, and then even

577
00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:36,120
Speaker 3: going into twenty twenty one. I mean you add Marc

578
00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:38,240
Speaker 3: Gasol to the equation. That was when they added Andre

579
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:40,240
Speaker 3: Drummond at the tail end of the year. If you remember,

580
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:43,120
Speaker 3: like they were going with Ad at the four almost

581
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:45,800
Speaker 3: exclusively and one of the big impacts there. To your point,

582
00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:48,120
Speaker 3: it's not just the slashing and operating from the perimeter,

583
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:50,040
Speaker 3: it's constantly having a big.

584
00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:50,480
Speaker 2: Guy in help.

585
00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:53,400
Speaker 3: We talked earlier about that geometry of the guy being

586
00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:55,360
Speaker 3: in the opposite block and the guy stepping in and

587
00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:58,560
Speaker 3: out with the defensive three seconds. They're still sliding over

588
00:28:58,600 --> 00:29:00,240
Speaker 3: and getting in the way all the time. It's just

589
00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:02,800
Speaker 3: there steps slower than Feba. But that's the thing Ad

590
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,200
Speaker 3: was constantly contending with. If he got past his man,

591
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:09,160
Speaker 3: there was another center waiting underneath the basket for him

592
00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:11,720
Speaker 3: to deal with. And I do think just in general,

593
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:15,640
Speaker 3: him kind of functioning more as a big man scroll screening,

594
00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:18,080
Speaker 3: rolling into space, but not rolling hard to like he

595
00:29:18,120 --> 00:29:20,600
Speaker 3: doesn't always roll directly to the rim, like he'll roll

596
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:22,800
Speaker 3: into that short area around the foul line like you

597
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:26,160
Speaker 3: talked about, he'll take jumpers there, he'll take more floaters.

598
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:29,560
Speaker 3: He's just playing more of a grown adult, like grown man,

599
00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:32,360
Speaker 3: old school style of basketball, and I think I think

600
00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:35,440
Speaker 3: it suits him well. I like, honestly, like to your point,

601
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,080
Speaker 3: like Ad, you always will have these moments where you're

602
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:40,280
Speaker 3: watching the Nuggets series and you're like, man, like Lebron

603
00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:42,680
Speaker 3: is still so good, like is he the best player?

604
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:45,040
Speaker 3: Blah blah blah. But if you get past the shot

605
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 3: creation piece and just zoom in strictly on winning impact

606
00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:51,480
Speaker 3: on both ends of the floor, there just aren't many

607
00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,880
Speaker 3: guys who bring as much to the table as he does.

608
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:58,800
Speaker 3: And the simplest explanation or example is this, if Ad

609
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:02,160
Speaker 3: or to spring his ankle and his fifteen games next year,

610
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:05,080
Speaker 3: as the Lakers are currently constructed, and you say got

611
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 3: Jackson Hayes or Christian Wood into that spot, they're going

612
00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 3: three and twelve. They're going three and twelve. And that's

613
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:12,280
Speaker 3: really all you need to know. Like so much of

614
00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:15,440
Speaker 3: the duct tape that is holding the Lakers organization together

615
00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:16,880
Speaker 3: is Anthony Davis.

616
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:20,280
Speaker 1: Yeah, but if Lebron misses a Knight and Austin Reeves

617
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:22,680
Speaker 1: can be the shot creator with ad if you get

618
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:25,240
Speaker 1: a favorable interior matchup, they can win the game.

619
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:27,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they did, and they did last year, and

620
00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:30,640
Speaker 3: like and that that really is the crux of it,

621
00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:33,360
Speaker 3: like they he And by the way, I don't know

622
00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:34,760
Speaker 3: if you noticed, did you see that deal with Jared

623
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:38,080
Speaker 3: Allen just signed. He signed a three year like ninety

624
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:40,120
Speaker 3: something million, So Jared Allen's going to be over thirty

625
00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:42,280
Speaker 3: million a year at the tail end of his current deal.

626
00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:45,240
Speaker 3: Isaiah Hartenstein just signed a deal with the Thunder this

627
00:30:45,280 --> 00:30:48,880
Speaker 3: summer for twenty seven million a year. These are guys that, like,

628
00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:51,360
Speaker 3: you know, Jared Allen's in that like like eighth or

629
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,880
Speaker 3: ninth best center in the league. Hartenstein's in that fourteenth, fifteenth.

630
00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:56,160
Speaker 2: Best complimentary guys.

631
00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:59,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, isn't it crazy that they're getting that much money though,

632
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:01,440
Speaker 3: And that to me is a really strong indicator of

633
00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:04,640
Speaker 3: the league telling us that, like, oh shit, we need

634
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,560
Speaker 3: big dudes underneath the basket that can do the work.

635
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:11,000
Speaker 1: Well, I think the game's getting longer and longer. Players

636
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:14,040
Speaker 1: are getting more skilled. And you know, I've said this

637
00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:16,240
Speaker 1: had nauseum, but the whole small ball thing to me

638
00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:18,480
Speaker 1: was such nonsense. It was like, no, the Warriors have

639
00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,640
Speaker 1: the best shooting backcourt ever. You can try duplicating it,

640
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:23,880
Speaker 1: but like there's some things Patrick Mahomes does that your

641
00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:26,719
Speaker 1: quarterback can't. Said, let's just just do what you do

642
00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:28,760
Speaker 1: and play to your you know, the Rockets tried so

643
00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:32,480
Speaker 1: desperately to do small ball, and it's like sometimes you

644
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:34,640
Speaker 1: just you know, i mean, let's face it, the Splash

645
00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:37,640
Speaker 1: Brothers next to West and Goodrich. There's never been a

646
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:40,120
Speaker 1: backcourt like that. Now I'm old enough to have seen both.

647
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:43,200
Speaker 1: But this is a big man's sport, you know, Like

648
00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:45,760
Speaker 1: the NFL is a big dude sport. The NBA is

649
00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:47,920
Speaker 1: a length sport. It's always been that. I mean that

650
00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:50,680
Speaker 1: I can remember standing at a Laker game once on

651
00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:53,600
Speaker 1: the court next to Pauga Sol and I'm like, like,

652
00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:58,880
Speaker 1: what planet created? I mean, his arms were so long

653
00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:00,920
Speaker 1: and I'm just sitting there and I'm like with a buddy,

654
00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:01,400
Speaker 1: and I'm like.

655
00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:05,240
Speaker 2: That's just an NBA player, Like what are you gonna do?

656
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:08,520
Speaker 1: Like they're just not you know, just so much of

657
00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:12,200
Speaker 1: it just you know, obviously skill matters, but this is

658
00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:14,880
Speaker 1: a length league. I remember talking to Mark Warkin, team

659
00:32:16,040 --> 00:32:19,160
Speaker 1: former executive in the NBA. I think Mark passed away

660
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:21,200
Speaker 1: years ago. He was a un l V Tarks number

661
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:24,360
Speaker 1: three guy, and he always said to me, he said Colin,

662
00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:26,200
Speaker 1: he goes, people do not understand.

663
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:27,640
Speaker 2: He said, Tart gets this.

664
00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:31,480
Speaker 1: Length. He goes, the Bulls were a great team, but

665
00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 1: they were the one of the longest teams ever.

666
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:33,760
Speaker 2: He goes.

667
00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:35,920
Speaker 1: The only team in the Eastern Conference that had their

668
00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:37,720
Speaker 1: length was the Cleveland teams with.

669
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:40,560
Speaker 2: John Williams e Loo.

670
00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:43,240
Speaker 1: He said that was the only team in the league

671
00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:45,520
Speaker 1: that could match up length wise. And he said, length

672
00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:49,120
Speaker 1: gives you three possessions a game. Tip passes, He goes,

673
00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:53,400
Speaker 1: Michael scored two baskets in those three possessions. He's like,

674
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,200
Speaker 1: if you have a great finisher and you're long, that's

675
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,720
Speaker 1: three possessions. And if you can get two baskets NBA

676
00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:01,520
Speaker 1: game are you known? Now, this was in the pre

677
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:04,280
Speaker 1: three shot era, so maybe those three possessions don't equal

678
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:07,120
Speaker 1: as many wins. But I think that the reality of

679
00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:12,480
Speaker 1: it is is you know, that's why Wemby, it's it's

680
00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:15,320
Speaker 1: the whole small ball thing outside of Isaiah Thomas in

681
00:33:15,360 --> 00:33:17,920
Speaker 1: a different league, and staff guards don't lead you the titles.

682
00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 1: They lead you to wins that don't lead you to

683
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:22,960
Speaker 1: titles historically, So.

684
00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:24,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, really quick.

685
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:27,680
Speaker 3: The my buddy Sam Vasini came on the show after

686
00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:30,040
Speaker 3: the NBA Finals. He works at the Athletic does an

687
00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:32,480
Speaker 3: amazing job, and we and we we tried to come

688
00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:35,440
Speaker 3: up with the two biggest things that we learned from

689
00:33:35,440 --> 00:33:38,160
Speaker 3: this playoff run, one for offense and one for defense.

690
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:40,880
Speaker 3: And what we settled on was on offense with spacing

691
00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:43,880
Speaker 3: and that's it goes beyond shooting, but that it has

692
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,200
Speaker 3: to do with like how you actually set up the floor,

693
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:47,880
Speaker 3: the way you actually run your offense, and we won't

694
00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:49,800
Speaker 3: get into it. But on the defensive end, what we

695
00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:53,040
Speaker 3: settled on was ground coverage and that does not just

696
00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:56,400
Speaker 3: mean footspeed. Length is a direct like so for instance,

697
00:33:56,400 --> 00:33:58,200
Speaker 3: like if you have a big on your back line

698
00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:00,400
Speaker 3: who can help at the rim, but all also can

699
00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:02,520
Speaker 3: test the shooter in the weak side corner. It's like

700
00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:05,160
Speaker 3: being in two places at once. And that's what Yannis

701
00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:07,120
Speaker 3: did on the Bucks with with brook Lopez that made

702
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:09,680
Speaker 3: him so dominant as a devender, Like your ability to

703
00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:12,759
Speaker 3: eat up chunks of the floor with an athlete that

704
00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:14,200
Speaker 3: has a seven to two wingspan.

705
00:34:14,719 --> 00:34:17,040
Speaker 2: South Sudan Yeah, it's exactly.

706
00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:19,200
Speaker 3: And that's the thing, like everyone's like, oh, they're struggling

707
00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:20,920
Speaker 3: with South Sudan and Susu Dan. By the way, as

708
00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:23,040
Speaker 3: good as the USA team played today, they were within

709
00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:24,359
Speaker 3: eleven in the in the.

710
00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:26,040
Speaker 2: Early part of the fourth quarter like that.

711
00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:30,719
Speaker 3: Just having a long, athletic team that plays hard, like

712
00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:33,200
Speaker 3: automatically check so many basketball boxes.

713
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:37,279
Speaker 1: Also much it's not it's not even blocks, it's shot alteration.

714
00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:38,880
Speaker 2: It's exactly.

715
00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:41,960
Speaker 1: It's literally it's penetrating and then circling out and saying

716
00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:44,360
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna go there. Like you stop shots, you

717
00:34:44,480 --> 00:34:47,839
Speaker 1: alter shots, you block shots. It's like certain things don't

718
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:50,680
Speaker 1: have to happen to have an effect. And length is

719
00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:53,240
Speaker 1: one of those things where you know, you'll see sometimes

720
00:34:53,239 --> 00:34:55,239
Speaker 1: a Chris Paul or a stuff going the lane and

721
00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:57,160
Speaker 1: they see the redwoods and they're like, yeah, I'm gonna

722
00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:58,520
Speaker 1: do a U turn and get out of here. There's

723
00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:00,360
Speaker 1: there's no happy ending to this story.

724
00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:01,759
Speaker 2: Jason tim and.

725
00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:03,399
Speaker 3: Derek White and Drew Holiday by the way, the two

726
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:06,640
Speaker 3: guards for Boston. But they have the length of wings

727
00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:08,400
Speaker 3: and so that could be a problem.

728
00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:11,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, boy, Derek White's good player. Darry Waite's such a

729
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:12,200
Speaker 2: good player.

730
00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:14,760
Speaker 1: Hoops tonight, Jason timp This was a fun forty minutes.

731
00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:16,279
Speaker 1: Good good seeing you and we'll talk soon.

732
00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:17,719
Speaker 3: Good to see you, Colin.

733
00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:25,720
Speaker 1: The volume. Hey are you not playing best Ball at DraftKings.

734
00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:29,480
Speaker 1: My opinion, you're missing out. Draft Kings Best Ball Millionaire

735
00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:33,720
Speaker 1: Contest is their biggest fantasy contest ever. And that's saying something.

736
00:35:33,719 --> 00:35:37,200
Speaker 1: They're taking fifteen million dollars and putting it into the

737
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:41,279
Speaker 1: prize pool. Fifteen million dollars. Two millionaires, not one, two

738
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:45,440
Speaker 1: will be crowned each week. Still not convinced, Check this out.

739
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:49,160
Speaker 1: DraftKings offering everybody a Draft one get one special your

740
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:52,279
Speaker 1: twenty dollars entry fee and that's all it costs to

741
00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:53,520
Speaker 1: get involved twenty bucks.

742
00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:54,399
Speaker 2: This is really nice.

743
00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:56,520
Speaker 1: Gives you a bonus ticket get in on the best

744
00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:59,160
Speaker 1: Ball action. Download the Draftking app takes ninety second to

745
00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:02,239
Speaker 1: use the code Colin col I n All customers who

746
00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:06,040
Speaker 1: enter the NFL Best Ball fifteen million dollars Millionaire Contest

747
00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:08,080
Speaker 1: get a bonus ticket and get a shot at being

748
00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:12,520
Speaker 1: crowned one of two millionaires only on DraftKings.

749
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:15,399
Speaker 2: Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler in New York

750
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:18,080
Speaker 2: called eight seven, seven eight, open Wire, text Hope, and

751
00:36:18,120 --> 00:36:20,960
Speaker 2: Wyatt four six seven, three six nine. In Connecticut, help

752
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:23,560
Speaker 2: is available for problem gambling called eight eight eight seven

753
00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:26,719
Speaker 2: eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot

754
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:29,200
Speaker 2: org eighteen and over in most eligible states, but age

755
00:36:29,239 --> 00:36:33,120
Speaker 2: varies by jurisdiction. Eligibility restrictions apply. One per customer enter

756
00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:35,960
Speaker 2: the Best Ball fifteen million dollar contest by nine five

757
00:36:36,040 --> 00:36:38,600
Speaker 2: twenty four to get one bonus entry. Twenty dollars entry

758
00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:42,480
Speaker 2: fee required. Reward expires at contestlock on nine five, twenty four.

759
00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:45,359
Speaker 2: See terms at DraftKings dot com slash dfs