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Speaker 1: Welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by FanDuel here at the
Speaker 1: volume Happy Tuesday, everybody. I hope all of you guys
Speaker 1: had an incredible weekend. I got out of town to
Speaker 1: San Diego for a couple of days over the weekend.
Speaker 1: It was amazing, hit all my favorite spots like Cornado
Speaker 1: and La Joya. Spent some time in the gas Lamp Quarter. Um.
Speaker 1: It's one of my favorite places to go because it's closed,
Speaker 1: it's only six hours down the road, and then the
Speaker 1: food out there is incredible, and that's one of my
Speaker 1: favorite things to do with my wife is just taste
Speaker 1: all the local cuisine. Um. It was great little get away.
Speaker 1: Um getting ready to start this grind, and so I
Speaker 1: wanted to have one last chance to kind of relax
Speaker 1: and get some distance. But I'm excited. This is gonna
Speaker 1: be a really fun nine month marathon here of a
Speaker 1: lot of really good basketball and what should be a
Speaker 1: very very exciting season. Uh. Today we're gonna address the
Speaker 1: Draymond Green punch on Jordan Pool that needs to be
Speaker 1: talked about. We're gonna talk about the Warriors Lakers game
Speaker 1: on Sunday night, which I think was very interesting and
Speaker 1: informative on a bunch of different levels, especially as it
Speaker 1: pertains with the role players on both teams. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk about that. Rob Polinka signed a surprise extension,
Speaker 1: which again apparently happened a long time ago too. But
Speaker 1: I have some thoughts there, and then there's a Ben
Speaker 1: Simmons video that's going around that we're gonna talk about. Um,
Speaker 1: those of you guys are waiting for some of our
Speaker 1: other teams to get hit on. And I know it's
Speaker 1: been a lot of Lakers and Warriors in this past week.
Speaker 1: They've just been the most interesting teams here early in
Speaker 1: the preseason by virtue of drama, and then obviously the
Speaker 1: Lakers in the pressure that is on them. We are
Speaker 1: going to get to a bunch of other teams this week.
Speaker 1: I have the Denver Nuggets on my list, the Clippers
Speaker 1: on my list, the Milwaukee Bucks on my list. We're
Speaker 1: gonna get into them all this week. So stay tuned
Speaker 1: to the feeds and we will get a round to
Speaker 1: a bunch of the other teams. Do you guys know
Speaker 1: the joke before we get started? Subscribe to the Volumes
Speaker 1: YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos.
Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason lt so you
Speaker 1: don't miss any show announcements. That's also where I put
Speaker 1: NBA footage since we can't use it on YouTube. Have
Speaker 1: two videos in particular from the Lakers Warriors game that
Speaker 1: I want you guys to check out that we'll talk
Speaker 1: about specifically today, but there's one with James Wiseman rolling
Speaker 1: hard to the rim and one on Kendrick Nunn in
Speaker 1: his ability to shoot off the dribble in the way
Speaker 1: that opens up things for the Lakers in their pick
Speaker 1: and roll. Again on my Twitter account at Underscore Jason
Speaker 1: lt is where you'll find that stuff. Um. And then
Speaker 1: last but not least it for whatever reason, you miss
Speaker 1: one of these videos and you can't get back over
Speaker 1: to YouTube to finish them, you can find them wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts under Hoops tonight. So the Draymond punch,
Speaker 1: it was bad. There's no point in sugarcoating it and
Speaker 1: trying to pretend it's something that it's not. Um. Draymond
Speaker 1: himself has said that, and it's it's bad on two level.
Speaker 1: It's bad when you look at the punch in a vacuum,
Speaker 1: but it's also bad when you look at his role
Speaker 1: on the team and and some and how he violated
Speaker 1: his station there so to speak, um, looking at the
Speaker 1: punch itself, to all I can go on is what
Speaker 1: I see in the video, And in the video I
Speaker 1: thought Draymond ran Jordan's pool off his spot. It wasn't
Speaker 1: a shove, but it was a physical, aggressive move into
Speaker 1: Jordan's personal space. That Jordan's shove was a pretty natural
Speaker 1: reaction to that. I feel like a lot of us
Speaker 1: would probably do the same thing if we were in
Speaker 1: his spot. And then in the punch itself, there was
Speaker 1: just a ferociousness to it that was concerning, to say
Speaker 1: the least. So looking at the punch, it's not good.
Speaker 1: And then when you factor in that he's the leader
Speaker 1: of the team, it's even worse. This is not Bobby
Speaker 1: Portous punching Nicolamir Titch. This is not a couple of
Speaker 1: role players going at it. This is one of the
Speaker 1: two most important leaders on the team who has a
Speaker 1: lot of responsibility that goes beyond basketball for this organization
Speaker 1: doing this to one of the young, up and coming
Speaker 1: future pillars of the franchise, and so even if we
Speaker 1: just look at it from that perspective, it's problematic as well.
Speaker 1: That said, I think Draymond knows what's at stake here.
Speaker 1: I think he knows that what's at stake for this
Speaker 1: particular team and UH and their aspirations for this year.
Speaker 1: I think he knows what's at stake for his own
Speaker 1: personal reputation and how it might impact his ability to
Speaker 1: get an extension, either with the Warriors or a new
Speaker 1: contract somewhere else. I think he understands the gravity of
Speaker 1: the situation, and I believe that Draymond is a good person.
Speaker 1: There's a tendency to relay competitiveness on a basketball court
Speaker 1: as some sort of indictment, indictment on someone's character. You know,
Speaker 1: I personally complained to my wife all the time that
Speaker 1: I can be a real asshole on the basketball court sometimes,
Speaker 1: and I come home sometimes and I'm like, man, I
Speaker 1: really don't like the way I behaved today. And that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean I'm a bad guy. That just means that
Speaker 1: I'm super competitive, and when I'm in those settings, I
Speaker 1: can become somebody that I don't particularly like. But off
Speaker 1: the court, I believe that my reputation speaks for itself
Speaker 1: as it pertains to the way I treat people, and
Speaker 1: the same goal is for Draymond. I think I think
Speaker 1: Draymond's a good man. I think he's just a very
Speaker 1: competitive person that has uh sometimes that can manifest in
Speaker 1: some ugly sides of himself on a basketball court, and
Speaker 1: I think it's important to to kind of put a
Speaker 1: barrier between those two. I had a similar incident happened
Speaker 1: when I was in college, uh one that was not physical,
Speaker 1: but was It was an altercation between me and a teammate.
Speaker 1: It was in junior college, my second year, and me
Speaker 1: and a gentleman, a guy named Miles. Him and I
Speaker 1: were the two best players on the team. We both
Speaker 1: made the AL Conference team that year. We took the
Speaker 1: most shots, we were the leaders. And we were playing
Speaker 1: against Salt Lake Community College, ironically against Gary Payton, the
Speaker 1: second in that game, and we were losing by like
Speaker 1: ten or fifteen points in the second half, and and
Speaker 1: they were on a run. Things weren't going well, and
Speaker 1: we were on what I thought was a two on
Speaker 1: one break and Miles Uh, I thought he forced to
Speaker 1: lay up and I thought he missed me trailing the play,
Speaker 1: and so I got mad at him uh and we
Speaker 1: ended up screaming at each other on the court. It
Speaker 1: was a really bad look. It was bad. We both
Speaker 1: got pulled from the game and had to sit out
Speaker 1: the rest of the night. Like it was just it
Speaker 1: was a really really ugly moment. And then they showed
Speaker 1: me the tape after the coaches did, and I wasn't
Speaker 1: even open. There was a second defender that was trailing
Speaker 1: right behind me. So Myles didn't give me the basketball
Speaker 1: because he shouldn't have given me the basketball. But what
Speaker 1: was funny about it is like similar to the Draymond thing,
Speaker 1: even just in a vacuum, I was wrong. But then
Speaker 1: when you factor in my position as one of the
Speaker 1: leaders on the team, it's my job even if I
Speaker 1: was even if I was frustrated with not getting a
Speaker 1: touch on that play, even if I was right, which
Speaker 1: I wasn't, I was wrong, But even if I had
Speaker 1: been right, it was it's my job as the leader
Speaker 1: of the team. Is if I have a concern with
Speaker 1: Miles in his in him keeping me involved in the offense,
Speaker 1: I have to address that with him privately or in
Speaker 1: some way that doesn't manifest the way it did during
Speaker 1: that game. It was probably the ugliest moment of my
Speaker 1: college career and one that I'm not proud of, and
Speaker 1: one once again, like I think, when that kind of
Speaker 1: thing happens, it's not an indictment on who you are
Speaker 1: as a human being overall. It's just to slip up
Speaker 1: and it's just important to acknowledge it for what it
Speaker 1: is and to move forward. I do apologize to the
Speaker 1: team in front of everybody, and and it's and once again,
Speaker 1: it's just it's not about how that kind of stuff
Speaker 1: happens necessarily, it's about addressing it properly and then making
Speaker 1: sure it doesn't happen again. You know, with Draymond, it's funny,
Speaker 1: like my I have two main takeaways from this thing.
Speaker 1: It's really bad, and I think people need to acknowledge that.
Speaker 1: But I'm also very confident that Draymond is gonna get
Speaker 1: through this with the team. I think that again, he
Speaker 1: understands what's at stake with this team and their aspirations,
Speaker 1: and he understands what what's at stake with his personal
Speaker 1: contract situation. He understands the stakes. The team needs him
Speaker 1: to be available to play, and the team needs him
Speaker 1: to be a respected leader in the locker room, and
Speaker 1: they need him to be Draymond, They need him to
Speaker 1: be his emotional self that he is just obviously not crossing.
Speaker 1: That's that specific line. And so like what happens next?
Speaker 1: Where where do we go from here? You know, Step
Speaker 1: one is obviously accepting blame, which he has done so publicly.
Speaker 1: But step two is the job that's done behind closed doors.
Speaker 1: He has to earn back the respect of his teammates. UM.
Speaker 1: I believe that it's Draymond said in his press conference
Speaker 1: that him and Jordan are are close. I don't know
Speaker 1: if that's necessarily true based on the vitriol that was
Speaker 1: behind that punch, but either way, they need to get close. Um.
Speaker 1: I think the easiest way to squash this whole thing
Speaker 1: is for Draymond to go out of his way to
Speaker 1: build a relationship with Jordan pool find common ground, find something,
Speaker 1: and honestly, it's their competitiveness. There two competitive dudes who
Speaker 1: love to win, hate to lose, and our great basketball players.
Speaker 1: That's common ground. Find the find the common ground there,
Speaker 1: and then if that friendship blossoms, I believe that we
Speaker 1: could be sitting later on this season and have this
Speaker 1: be a thing in the past and something that this
Speaker 1: team has completely moved beyond. But that work is in
Speaker 1: front of him. Um. I believe he's taken the right
Speaker 1: steps to this point. Um, but he's got more steps
Speaker 1: to go along the way, and as long as he
Speaker 1: does his job on the court and does his job
Speaker 1: as the leader of the team and quelling this situation.
Speaker 1: I believe that this will be a thought in the past.
Speaker 1: I don't believe it will affect his contract situation. If
Speaker 1: he can fix this, I don't believe that it will
Speaker 1: affect this team and their ultimate ceiling as long as
Speaker 1: he can fix this, which I believe he's capable of.
Speaker 1: And then kind of looking at it from the perspective
Speaker 1: of the Warriors, I saw a lot of I saw
Speaker 1: a lot of people going the direction of like, oh,
Speaker 1: they should trade him, you know, And I just think
Speaker 1: that's insane, uh, for starters. Draymond's unique fit within this
Speaker 1: particular team and the value that he brings with their
Speaker 1: continuity and what he does for them on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor, they they need him. He was
Speaker 1: gone for twenty nine straight games with a back injury
Speaker 1: during this season, and in that stretch, the Warriors went
Speaker 1: sixteen and thirteen, their defense fell down to tenth in
Speaker 1: the league, and Steph wasn't generating the same quality shots
Speaker 1: that he usually does. Um, they weren't the same team
Speaker 1: without him. And I'm sorry, but if they did some
Speaker 1: sort of dramatic three team trade that landed a Miles
Speaker 1: Turner and dumped Draymond somewhere. I wouldn't have them, and
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have them as the favorites anymore. I think
Speaker 1: he's vitally important to what they do. I think I
Speaker 1: think him, Andrew Wiggins and staff right now are the
Speaker 1: three most important players on the team in terms of
Speaker 1: what they do on both ends of the floor and
Speaker 1: how it helps them win. So the reality is is,
Speaker 1: like now, Draymond might not be a Warrior next year,
Speaker 1: Like maybe he opts out of his deal and wants
Speaker 1: an extension, doesn't get it and goes somewhere else. That's
Speaker 1: on the table, But that would be about money. I
Speaker 1: don't necessarily think that would be about this. The Warriors
Speaker 1: have a legitimate salary crunch coming regardless of what happens,
Speaker 1: and yeah, Draymond might be a casualty of that. But
Speaker 1: the reality is is they need him on the basketball court,
Speaker 1: and there's no way that they're dealing him during the
Speaker 1: season unless things won't weigh south, which I don't expect
Speaker 1: them to do um. But again, I just wanted to
Speaker 1: make sure that we addressed it. I'm not you guys
Speaker 1: know me. I'm not interested in the drama. I'm interested
Speaker 1: in the basketball. But this had to be addressed, and
Speaker 1: I think it's pretty cut and dry. The punch was bad.
Speaker 1: It was bad in the punch, It was bad in
Speaker 1: his role as a leader of the team. But I
Speaker 1: if there's one person out there that I think is
Speaker 1: up to the task of cleaning up this type of man,
Speaker 1: it's Draymond. I think. I think he understands what's at stake,
Speaker 1: and I think he's a good a good person to
Speaker 1: lean on to fix his particular mess in this case.
Speaker 1: Um So let's move on to some real basketball. Tip
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Speaker 1: couple of futures that I would keep an eye on
Speaker 1: if I were you, Guys. Among the favorites to win
Speaker 1: the title, I really like the Warriors. Among the long
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Speaker 1: seventies sixers and the Dallas Mavericks. And then on the
Speaker 1: m v P front. I think Janice is gonna get
Speaker 1: it this year. I really don't understand why Luca is
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Speaker 1: regular season games. Janice is just a safe bet to
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Speaker 1: Sweat First bet up to one thousand dollars um. The
Speaker 1: Lakers played the Warriors on Sunday Night and a very
Speaker 1: interesting basketball game. Another strong showing from the Lakers, which
Speaker 1: we'll get to here in a minute. But I want
Speaker 1: to spend a lot of time talking about the specific
Speaker 1: role players on both teams. Um, starting with the Warriors.
Speaker 1: So Jordan Pool, Um, Jordan Pool put on a show
Speaker 1: in this game. He I don't think he gets enough
Speaker 1: credit for, you know, because he gets lumped in with
Speaker 1: a lot of these guys that are up for these extensions,
Speaker 1: like right, like Tyler Harroll got this massive extension from
Speaker 1: the Miami Heat. I think Jordan Pool is better than
Speaker 1: Tyler Harrow. Tyler is a little taller, and he's a
Speaker 1: better hatch and shoot player right now, but I think
Speaker 1: Jordan's has a much better natural gift for scoring the
Speaker 1: basketball and creating advantages. Um. You know, there's a wild
Speaker 1: play in this game where where Jordan got downhill. I
Speaker 1: can't remember if it was on a dribble handoff or
Speaker 1: a pick and roll, but he got downhill and he
Speaker 1: did like a behind the back a move and kind
Speaker 1: of like a shuffle step into a floater and he
Speaker 1: made it and the crowd just went crazy. I remember
Speaker 1: sitting there thinking, like, you know, everyone looks pays such
Speaker 1: close attention to skill, right, like how well does someone shoot,
Speaker 1: how well do they dribble? That kind of stuff, And
Speaker 1: Jordan has skills just like Tyler Harrow has skills, but
Speaker 1: one of the things that Jordan has that I don't
Speaker 1: think Tyler has is that like natural scoring, like feel.
Speaker 1: It's hard to describe. It's not really a really What
Speaker 1: it is is confidence because it's a willingness to try things.
Speaker 1: It's an audacity to trust in your ability to take
Speaker 1: and make difficult shots. Jordan obviously has an incredible skill set.
Speaker 1: He's very fast, much faster than Tyler Harrow, uh aster
Speaker 1: with the basketball, much better ball handler, um shooting. I
Speaker 1: don't think he's as good of a shooter as Tyler,
Speaker 1: but he can shoot the ball really well. And he
Speaker 1: he can it's it manifests as a flare like it
Speaker 1: manifests and fancy plays like that behind the back move
Speaker 1: into the floater. But he has the audacity and that
Speaker 1: natural scoring flair um that I think makes him really
Speaker 1: impactful with the basketball in his hands, creating advantages not
Speaker 1: just for himself before his teammates. I would absolutely take
Speaker 1: him over Tyler Harrow, and he deserves all the money
Speaker 1: that's coming from him. If you guys have not checked
Speaker 1: out Jordan Pool in this particular game, go to I
Speaker 1: don't know if you can find highlights of it on
Speaker 1: YouTube or if you need to go to NBA dot
Speaker 1: com stat website. But he put on a show in
Speaker 1: this game, and it was an assortment of really, really
Speaker 1: fascinating baskets. UM. James Wiseman he up and down night
Speaker 1: because he struggled defending Anthony Davis, which is to be expected.
Speaker 1: He's Anthony freaking Davis man. He's one of the best
Speaker 1: bigs in all of basketball. UM. But one of the
Speaker 1: things that he did really well in this game that
Speaker 1: that really stuck out on film that I wanted to
Speaker 1: talk about is the concept of rolling hard to the
Speaker 1: basket after you set ball screens, because this is something
Speaker 1: that is not done well enough around the league by
Speaker 1: other bigs. A lot of bigs get lazy with it.
Speaker 1: Even Anthony Davis. I've complained a lot over the years
Speaker 1: about him not rolling hard to the basket. UM. Rolling
Speaker 1: hard to the basket is important because it actually acts
Speaker 1: as gravity. It pulls in defensive players underneath the basket.
Speaker 1: We talk a lot about about drop coverage on this show,
Speaker 1: and the dynamic, as you guys know, is very simple.
Speaker 1: The ball handler comes over the top of the screen
Speaker 1: and a good shooter, so in this case of Jordan
Speaker 1: Pool will have to be chased over the top. Right.
Speaker 1: Steph is obviously a great example of a guy that
Speaker 1: you have to chase over the top. Two. When you
Speaker 1: chased over the top, the guard typically can get downhill,
Speaker 1: but the big man his job is to corral that
Speaker 1: while also accounting for the role man. If the rollman
Speaker 1: rolls slowly to the basket, then the screen defender, the
Speaker 1: big man who's defending the ball screen, he can drop
Speaker 1: higher to dissuade the pull up shot or to prevent
Speaker 1: the guard from getting downhill to the basket. But when
Speaker 1: you roll hard to the rim, the big man has
Speaker 1: to drop back to the rim faster. It's like it's
Speaker 1: like if it's very We think of vertical spacing as
Speaker 1: the lab threat, right, That's what lab gravity is. You
Speaker 1: have to drop back. Most drop coverages come with the
Speaker 1: They inform their bigs they call it no roller behind
Speaker 1: coverage because your job is to make sure that the
Speaker 1: roller does not get behind you so that you can
Speaker 1: dissuade the role and stop the guard from getting all
Speaker 1: the way to the rim. There was a play in
Speaker 1: this particular game where Steph had the ball. He was
Speaker 1: being guarded by Matt Ryan on a switch. He's a
Speaker 1: little shooter for the wing shooter for the Lakers. And
Speaker 1: when you in, Gabriel was the screen defender for the
Speaker 1: Lakers and James Wiseman was setting the ball screen and
Speaker 1: on the play, Matt Ryan does his job, gets over
Speaker 1: the top of the screen and he's on steps backside
Speaker 1: to apply ball pressure back pressure. If when you in,
Speaker 1: Gabriel was up step would have to slow down his dribble,
Speaker 1: in which case Matt is now smothering him from behind.
Speaker 1: But because Wiseman rolled hard to the rim, you can
Speaker 1: see when you and Gabriel take two or three quick
Speaker 1: backwards steps to get back into the lane to take
Speaker 1: care of Wiseman rolling. As a result, Steph doesn't have
Speaker 1: to slow down. He just picks up steam and just
Speaker 1: goes right at when you with the left handed layup
Speaker 1: on the play when you and jumps, but his momentum
Speaker 1: is all screwed up because he's back pedaling, so he
Speaker 1: doesn't get the same amount of lift. He ends up
Speaker 1: committing a foul on Steff and Steph makes the layup
Speaker 1: for an and one. I clipped out this play and
Speaker 1: added it to my Twitter feed. You can see it
Speaker 1: at under at Underscore Jason lt where I put all
Speaker 1: the rest of our film breakdowns. But on this play,
Speaker 1: it's a great example of James Wiseman and how when
Speaker 1: he rolls hard to the rim, it drags the screen
Speaker 1: defender back and that opens things up for Steph and
Speaker 1: for Jordan Pool on those plays. That's gonna be an
Speaker 1: interesting dynamic to this team because Kevin Looney and Draymond Green,
Speaker 1: as good as they are, they're not vertical threats, so
Speaker 1: when they roll hard to the rim, it doesn't manifest
Speaker 1: with the same level of gravity. James Wiseman is an
Speaker 1: excellent vertical spacing threat, so when he rolls hard to
Speaker 1: the rim, it's gonna really warp things for them. I
Speaker 1: thought it was a really interesting dynamic from this game
Speaker 1: and a good good sign of UM. You know, basketball's
Speaker 1: all bad habits, and it's a good habit that James
Speaker 1: Wiseman has that he rolls hard to the rim like that.
Speaker 1: UM Andrew Wiggins I thought had a really good game
Speaker 1: attacking closeouts with power um Max Christie in particular for
Speaker 1: the Lakers in Juanta, Skano Anderson ended up matched up
Speaker 1: with him a lot and uh man, Like when he
Speaker 1: would catch the ball on the perimeter, even though the
Speaker 1: closeouts there and there's not really an advantage, he would
Speaker 1: just rip through to the right, and like j t
Speaker 1: A and Max Chrissy are sliding with them and they
Speaker 1: got their hands on him, and they're trying to be
Speaker 1: physical and they're trying to hold their ground. But like
Speaker 1: Wiggins is a vet now, Like he's not the skinny
Speaker 1: wing that he was when he was coming up through
Speaker 1: high school. He's a big, strong wing now and he's
Speaker 1: realizing that, like when he just goes that people can't
Speaker 1: stop him. And man, he was just ripping through them
Speaker 1: on closeouts and getting all the way to the rim.
Speaker 1: Really interesting and exciting performance from Andrew Wiggins. I thought
Speaker 1: Dante DiVincenzo did a good job with the basketball in
Speaker 1: his hands. He was only one for five from the field,
Speaker 1: but a lot of that's his legs and he's he's
Speaker 1: got he's getting a double on that side because it's
Speaker 1: not just he's getting his legs from preseason. He also
Speaker 1: is coming back from an injury, so there's some mental
Speaker 1: stuff he's getting over, so he's not getting the amount
Speaker 1: of lift that he usually does but he's passing the
Speaker 1: ball really well, and most importantly, he's intent on getting downhill.
Speaker 1: A lot of the Warriors guards, Stephen and Clay in particular,
Speaker 1: a little bit of Jordan Pool, although Jordan's pretty good
Speaker 1: getting downhill too. They are kind of coming off of
Speaker 1: those ball screens looking more to shoot, or coming off
Speaker 1: of those griple handoffs looking more to shoot. And Dante
Speaker 1: is going downhill. And he's an underrated athlete in underrated
Speaker 1: size wise for a lot of the you know what
Speaker 1: we consider two guards around the league. He already has
Speaker 1: a really nice natural passing give and take with James
Speaker 1: Wiseman kind of hunts him everywhere on the floor, especially
Speaker 1: as drop off passes. They connected on several of those
Speaker 1: on Sunday night. Um. I like I like his fit.
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna do a really nice job filling
Speaker 1: in the auto porter junior role. UM and I thought
Speaker 1: it was a really smart signing from the Warriors brass
Speaker 1: this summer, Kevin Looney did a really nice job guarding
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis again had some success against James Wiseman,
Speaker 1: but Looney really forced him into being a jump shooter.
Speaker 1: I've always been critical of Anthony Davis of not you know,
Speaker 1: he's too heavy, so he doesn't really have the foot
Speaker 1: speed that he had when he was younger, and so
Speaker 1: he struggles to beat people off the dribble. Well, Kevan
Speaker 1: was playing really uh solid discipline defense, positioning himself directly
Speaker 1: between a d and the rim and just moving his
Speaker 1: feet and baiting Anthony Davis into taking really difficult jump shots.
Speaker 1: And if I remember correctly in the footage that I watched,
Speaker 1: he made a tough one a jab step at the
Speaker 1: at the left elbow, but he missed a lot of
Speaker 1: jumpers over the top of Loony Luoni smothered him under
Speaker 1: the basket once and got to stop it. He got
Speaker 1: bailed out by a whistle. But it wasn't one that
Speaker 1: I agreed with. Um Luny Kevin Kevin lunis just flat
Speaker 1: out good. It's honestly one of the weirdest dynamics with
Speaker 1: this Warrior's team because Looney's good and Draymond's good, and
Speaker 1: that's really all they need in the front court with
Speaker 1: the style that they like to play. So it'll be
Speaker 1: really interesting to see how they kind of shoehorned Wiseman
Speaker 1: minutes in there as a result. And then last Moses Moody.
Speaker 1: He struggled early in the game, especially on Kendrick Nunn
Speaker 1: ducking under picks, but he must have got yelled at
Speaker 1: by coach or something, because man, in the second quarter
Speaker 1: he had a really good shift where he was chasing
Speaker 1: over the top of screens and actually forcing Kendrick Nunn
Speaker 1: to ISO him rather than get his normal stuff out
Speaker 1: of pick and roll. I think Moses Moody is the
Speaker 1: clear pick as that guy that's going to fit in
Speaker 1: as that kind of like that Gary Payton second roll
Speaker 1: UM as one of the wings off the bench that
Speaker 1: takes a significant defensive assignment. Uh. Moving out of the Lakers.
Speaker 1: So again, when we talked about Um preseason earlier on,
Speaker 1: I told you guys how I'm not I'm not interested
Speaker 1: in the outcomes of games. I mean, how the Lakers
Speaker 1: were one in three. I also, you know, got in
Speaker 1: trouble with some of you guys last week because I
Speaker 1: missed the result of a Warrior's game because I misread
Speaker 1: a box score. I don't care who wins preseason games.
Speaker 1: What I care about is the the core lineups and
Speaker 1: uh and and like how they stack up against other
Speaker 1: core lineups from some of the other teams, and then
Speaker 1: you can you can kind of dive a little deeper
Speaker 1: into specific role players and and how they might fit
Speaker 1: when everyone is available. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: you're looking for habits. You're looking at are they playing hard?
Speaker 1: Do they have good defensive habits in terms of boxing
Speaker 1: out or defensive rotations and things along that lines, those lines,
Speaker 1: running the floor and transition defense. You know, do are
Speaker 1: they establishing an identity as a team that does all
Speaker 1: the little things and does it well, you know, beyond
Speaker 1: the fact that the Lakers went winless last year. They
Speaker 1: were winless and not playing good basketball. And what's interesting
Speaker 1: is that if in the four games the Lakers have played,
Speaker 1: in three of them they played at least one of
Speaker 1: their stars, they played a d this last game, they
Speaker 1: played Russ and Lebron in the second one, that they
Speaker 1: played all three of them in the first one. And
Speaker 1: in those games they played the Warriors, the Kings, and
Speaker 1: the Sons, and they won their minutes in all three
Speaker 1: of those games. Now, does that mean the Lakers are gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, have an amazing regular season, No, not necessarily,
Speaker 1: But what it does tell me is that they're competent
Speaker 1: enough and discipline enough, or at least attempting to build
Speaker 1: that type of identity which will allow Lebron James and
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis to control the outcomes of games. They need
Speaker 1: to be disciplined and they need to be sharp in
Speaker 1: the details, so that if Lebron and A d play
Speaker 1: like two of the top seven players in the world,
Speaker 1: they can contend with the best teams in the league.
Speaker 1: And that's what That's the way I feel about the
Speaker 1: Lakers so far through four preseason games. I think they
Speaker 1: are good enough on the details and good enough their
Speaker 1: personnel that if Lebron James and Anthony Davis are available
Speaker 1: consistently and play like top ten players, they absolutely will
Speaker 1: contend out West. That that that to me is almost
Speaker 1: a sure thing as long as Lebron and AD are
Speaker 1: healthy and play like top ten players. Obviously, if Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis doesn't play well, that will hurt things. Obviously, if
Speaker 1: injuries creep into the equation, obviously that will hurt things.
Speaker 1: But I've seen enough so far in preseason to know
Speaker 1: that they will contend out West if they are healthy.
Speaker 1: That is how good Lebron James and Anthony Davis are
Speaker 1: And that's how good of a job Darvin Hamm has
Speaker 1: done breeding some more competence into this roster. You can
Speaker 1: really see it on the defensive end of the floor.
Speaker 1: They're competing in the physicality areas of the game. They're
Speaker 1: fighting over ball screens and applying back pressure. They're making
Speaker 1: the tough rotations. I put a clip on on on
Speaker 1: Twitter today that you can see where there's there's a
Speaker 1: play where Jonathan Cominga like slips the screen with Jordan's
Speaker 1: pool and JANCEASCTO Anderson gets caught on it and and
Speaker 1: j K is open on the right block like just
Speaker 1: just completely unguarded. But on the play, Anthony Davis rotates
Speaker 1: over off of Kevan Luney to stop j K from shooting,
Speaker 1: and then Max Christie out of the weak side corner
Speaker 1: dives in like just this is hard work, gets into
Speaker 1: defensive stance and does a swim move, gets around Cavan Luney,
Speaker 1: gets down in a squat and boxes Kevan Luney out
Speaker 1: of the lane. Then when j t A comes down,
Speaker 1: they all rotate back to their spot and that play
Speaker 1: ended up working around and they actually ended up botching
Speaker 1: a switch where uh, I believe Steph Curry slipped wide
Speaker 1: open to the rim, but Quantascono Anderson snuffed it out
Speaker 1: on the backside and got his steel. That the the
Speaker 1: the level of the attention to detail on the defensive rotations,
Speaker 1: the fighting for position, the getting over the top of screens,
Speaker 1: the boxing out. That's all miles ahead of where it
Speaker 1: was last year. Now it's not all Darvin Ham. It
Speaker 1: is partially Darvin hamd. But I want to I wanna
Speaker 1: make make a leer here. That the idea of what
Speaker 1: happened with Frank Vogel, which is a team buying out
Speaker 1: or tuning out a coach. That happens a lot. Demanding
Speaker 1: coaches a lot of times they have to have player
Speaker 1: turnover or they need to be they need to be
Speaker 1: relieved of duty and send somewhere else because they just
Speaker 1: burn you out with how much they ask. We've seen
Speaker 1: this happen with Tom Tabodeaux. Hell, you see this happen
Speaker 1: with Bill Belichick. But what happened was is Frank Vogel
Speaker 1: lost the locker room last year and they weren't playing
Speaker 1: hard for him. So there's two things that are contributing
Speaker 1: to this. Darvin Hamm's competence, but also just a new
Speaker 1: face in there and somebody that the team is actually
Speaker 1: willing to listen to. Um uh, they blocked five more
Speaker 1: shots in this game. Again, some of this is chasing
Speaker 1: over ball screens and blocking guys when they go for
Speaker 1: pull ups, but it's a more activity around the rim.
Speaker 1: I think. I think the Lakers are gonna end up
Speaker 1: being one of the better rim protection teams in the
Speaker 1: league this year. Um Kendrick Nunne I did a whole bit,
Speaker 1: like two minute video on this that you can find
Speaker 1: on my Twitter feed. His ability to shoot the basketball
Speaker 1: coming over ball screens has opened up so many things
Speaker 1: for the Lakers on the offensive end of the floor already.
Speaker 1: And we've talked about this concept before. If the defender
Speaker 1: can go under the ball screen, it takes away the drive.
Speaker 1: If it takes away the drive, then you can't get downhill.
Speaker 1: If you can't get downhill, the defense doesn't collapse. If
Speaker 1: the decent defense doesn't collapse, you don't have the ability
Speaker 1: to make reads to open players that can start your
Speaker 1: driving kick. That's just the reality of being a guard
Speaker 1: that can't shoot, and that's been the big problem with
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook and one of the big reasons why he's
Speaker 1: been so inefficient as a ball creator in this league
Speaker 1: over the last couple of years. But Kendrick Nunn, because
Speaker 1: he can shoot off the dribble, forces you to chase
Speaker 1: over the top. Helps you in two ways because Lebron
Speaker 1: can shoot off the dribble, but the Lebron's being guarded
Speaker 1: by big forward and Anthony Davis is being guarded by
Speaker 1: big ford, so they're just gonna switch that. You can't
Speaker 1: switch that with Kendrick Nunn because he's being guarded by
Speaker 1: a small in this case Steph Curry. In the video
Speaker 1: breakdown that I did, I showed kind of the progression.
Speaker 1: You saw the Warriors try to switch. Steph ended up
Speaker 1: on a Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis just literally ran to
Speaker 1: the front of the rim. Kendrick Gunn threw it up
Speaker 1: to him. Two free throws right easy, breezy you Uh.
Speaker 1: Moses Moody ducked under a ball screen and Kendrick Nunn
Speaker 1: just rose up and knocked down a twenty six ft
Speaker 1: off the dribble. Three. Then as they started to chase
Speaker 1: him over the top of the screen, he started to
Speaker 1: get downhill. He made floaters, he made pull up jump shots,
Speaker 1: he was making reads to his teammates, thrown throwing passes
Speaker 1: to the weak side. It's just it's just a dynamic
Speaker 1: that the Lakers have not had. They've had guys who
Speaker 1: could shoot like Malik Monk, but navigating pick and rolls
Speaker 1: is a really delicate balance of being patient and willing
Speaker 1: to make reads, and Malik is more of a gunner,
Speaker 1: more of his score. So Kendrick Nunn just has been
Speaker 1: so much better in that role already in this preseason
Speaker 1: and it's opened up a lot of stuff for their offense.
Speaker 1: Um I did want to briefly shout out Anthony Davis's
Speaker 1: jump shot looks good here. Early made two additional threes
Speaker 1: in this game, both of them trailing the floor and
Speaker 1: transition trailing bigs for threes. That's one of the best
Speaker 1: ways to get open shots and transition because most bigs
Speaker 1: have a tendency in transition defense just to run to
Speaker 1: the front of the rim because that's what they've been
Speaker 1: told to do their entire basketball career. And so when
Speaker 1: you have a big trail to play, it's just a
Speaker 1: great opportunity to catch the big sleeping or too far
Speaker 1: back and to get open threes. There a d made
Speaker 1: two three's I believe in the second quarter in this game. Also,
Speaker 1: his elbow face up game looks pretty sharp here early on,
Speaker 1: and that's that just was a staple of Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: in the bubble. So when you see that, that's absolutely encouraging. UM.
Speaker 1: I thought Lonnie Walker had kind of an up and
Speaker 1: down game. A lot of Lakers fans are high on
Speaker 1: his defense in the preseason. I'm not really seeing it
Speaker 1: on tape. He's competing, but his form trying to get
Speaker 1: over ball screens is just not good. He dies on
Speaker 1: ball screens too easily goes under him sometimes when he
Speaker 1: gets lazy. He one of the things that I'm noticing
Speaker 1: on tape. You'll see good ball screen defending guards. You'll
Speaker 1: see them when when when the guard is preparing to
Speaker 1: go over the screen, they get up in to the
Speaker 1: ball handler and try to almost split the difference like
Speaker 1: in between the screener and the guard as he's going
Speaker 1: over the top. It's very physical play. They get physical
Speaker 1: up into the guard to get over the screen, and
Speaker 1: Lonnie gives space and then just kind of turns and
Speaker 1: runs directly into the screen. And he was getting screened
Speaker 1: way too easily. So there's some stuff there that they
Speaker 1: got to figure out. But his athleticism does pop, and
Speaker 1: you see that in defensive rotations. You see that crashing
Speaker 1: the defensive glass. You see the athleticism there. But in
Speaker 1: order for it to translate to success on the defensive
Speaker 1: end of the floor, he's gonna have to figure out
Speaker 1: a way in Darvin Hamm system to be better at
Speaker 1: chasing over the top of ball screens. He did shoot
Speaker 1: the ball well, um. I think he made three threes
Speaker 1: in this game. He made a couple of pull up
Speaker 1: mid range shots as well. But his like Kendrick Nunn,
Speaker 1: is very under control. When he's navigating pick and roll,
Speaker 1: you can tell he's not rushed. You can tell he's
Speaker 1: taking what the defense gives him. With Lonnie Walker, it's
Speaker 1: a little more more wild. It's a little more like
Speaker 1: what do I feel like doing on this possession kind
Speaker 1: of thing, you know. And so I'm not as high
Speaker 1: on him as other Lakers fans are right now, but
Speaker 1: I don't think they necessarily need him to be good
Speaker 1: given some of the other players they have on the roster,
Speaker 1: So it's not exactly a high pressure situation for him.
Speaker 1: But I do think if he's gonna find minutes in
Speaker 1: Darvin Ham's system, he's just gonna have to be better defensively.
Speaker 1: That if he can channel his athleticism to being good
Speaker 1: chasing over the ball, screens containing dribble drives in isolation situations,
Speaker 1: making rotations, and then if he can be consistent as
Speaker 1: a jump shooter, he absolutely will have success in this rotation.
Speaker 1: But he's gotta he's got to get those two, those
Speaker 1: two areas tightened down. Matt Ryan knocks down seven threes
Speaker 1: in this game. I need to see more defensive tape
Speaker 1: before I can tell you whether or not he can
Speaker 1: fit in the rotation. He did all the right things
Speaker 1: and was competing. What you can tell, he's a little
Speaker 1: slow footed, which is to be expected. He's a bigger
Speaker 1: wing right um, and he's not a fantastic athlete. Um.
Speaker 1: But here's the reality. The Lakers don't have a lot
Speaker 1: of on the roster, and so just by virtue of
Speaker 1: a hole in the roster, he might get an opportunity.
Speaker 1: And again, just like I said with Lonnie, if he
Speaker 1: can defend well enough, if he can defend just well
Speaker 1: enough to fit in this Lakers scheme, his shooting is
Speaker 1: going to be enough to keep him on the floor. Um. Again,
Speaker 1: that that's all I had on this particular Lakers Warriors game.
Speaker 1: But we're gonna get to a bunch of the other
Speaker 1: teams later on in this week. So moving on to
Speaker 1: Rob Polinka. Um. So, it was reported that he signed
Speaker 1: this extension before the Darvin Ham acquisition, largely so that
Speaker 1: they can tie those two together, so that they can
Speaker 1: kind of have some confidence that this is where the
Speaker 1: basketball vision is. It's Darvin Ham leading the team, you know,
Speaker 1: Rob Polinka building the team. I I didn't think he
Speaker 1: deserved it based on the decisions that he made. But
Speaker 1: I'm also not surprised. I mean, Genie Buss is very
Speaker 1: much a family She runs the Lakers like a mom
Speaker 1: and pop shop, not like a multibillion dollar organization, and
Speaker 1: so she's gonna prioritize things like personal connections over competency.
Speaker 1: She loved Kobe, she was close with Kobe. This is
Speaker 1: Kobe's former agent. Not surprised at all that she went
Speaker 1: this route. But again I didn't think. I didn't think
Speaker 1: he deserved it. I think the reality as we zoom
Speaker 1: out from the Lakers situation, Lebron James and the way
Speaker 1: he weaponized his cache to bring in Anthony Davis, and
Speaker 1: then the scouting department, Joey and Jesse Buss in the
Speaker 1: consistent train of good young basketball players they've brought in.
Speaker 1: And I like Matt Max Christie by the way. He's
Speaker 1: got a long way to go as a shooter, but
Speaker 1: he's already pretty good defensively, dribbles the ball a lot
Speaker 1: better than I expected, and is quicker with his feet
Speaker 1: than I expect. There was a play in this game
Speaker 1: he actually airballed, I think, or missed it short, but
Speaker 1: he kind of like snaked a pick and roll and
Speaker 1: took an escape dribble far to the right and elevated
Speaker 1: into like a pull up fifteen footer on the baseline,
Speaker 1: and he missed it. But I remember sitting there thinking, like, man,
Speaker 1: like he can get to the point where you can
Speaker 1: knocked that shot down. Like he's dribbling the ball well enough,
Speaker 1: and he's at he's athletic enough that he's gonna be
Speaker 1: able to get to that shot whenever he wants, And
Speaker 1: so there's potential there for a dynamic two way player.
Speaker 1: Another guy that I think is a really interesting find
Speaker 1: from the Lakers scouting department. But that scouting department and
Speaker 1: Lebron James has kind of carried this roster over the
Speaker 1: course of the last half decade, and I don't think
Speaker 1: Rob has done a good job and so and so,
Speaker 1: I'm I don't think it's a good idea to extend
Speaker 1: him the way that he did. But like I said,
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised. The reality is the Lakers will not
Speaker 1: have consistent success in the NBA, especially after Lebron is gone,
Speaker 1: until they have somebody running the basketball operations department that
Speaker 1: is a basketball nut job, someone that is willing to
Speaker 1: do the work to understand what type of basketball players
Speaker 1: succeed in the modern NBA, the same way that Joey
Speaker 1: and Jesse bust two. I know Rob Polinka used to
Speaker 1: play in college. I know he has a basketball background,
Speaker 1: but the reality is is right now, he's he's agent guy,
Speaker 1: he's sales e, he's a personality manager. He's kind of
Speaker 1: more of like a figure head than he is a grinder.
Speaker 1: I don't think that Rob Boblinka watches forty basketball games
Speaker 1: a week to keep up to date with what's working
Speaker 1: in the modern NBA. I don't think so. Now, maybe
Speaker 1: I'm wrong about that, but you guys tell me if
Speaker 1: you guys think that Rob Polinka is as a tuned
Speaker 1: to what's working in the modern n b A. If
Speaker 1: he was, he wouldn't constantly be building rosters with traditional
Speaker 1: bigs and tiny guards. He wouldn't be targeting players like
Speaker 1: Lonnie Walker with the mid level exception. This roster would
Speaker 1: have more wings somewhere between six seven and six nine
Speaker 1: that can defend multiple positions, and can attack close outs,
Speaker 1: and can shoot the basketball and do all of that stuff.
Speaker 1: You know how, you know, because that's what all the
Speaker 1: other good teams are doing. That's what the Warriors are doing,
Speaker 1: That's what the Toronto Raptors are doing. You know, all
Speaker 1: of the all of the front offices that we consider
Speaker 1: to be competent are all heading in the same direction,
Speaker 1: and we're all seeing that lead to succes s, and
Speaker 1: then we're seeing Rob do different stuff. I don't believe
Speaker 1: that he's the right guy for this position, and as
Speaker 1: long as he's there, I think that the team is handcuffed.
Speaker 1: I think that's just the reality of having a guy
Speaker 1: that's not a real basketball grinder, A guy that can watch,
Speaker 1: you know, every single meaningful basketball game in the NBA
Speaker 1: for a week and pay attention to what's working for
Speaker 1: certain teams and find little opportunities to add value here
Speaker 1: and there the way that the scouting department does. I
Speaker 1: just don't think Rob's the right guy for that. Uh.
Speaker 1: One last note on the rob Berlinka thing. I think
Speaker 1: he botched the Rust thing. I think he should have
Speaker 1: moved him. I think he should have got Myles Turner
Speaker 1: and Buddy Yield or this Utah Jazz package, mainly because
Speaker 1: they needed training camp to establish good habits and to
Speaker 1: get those guys up to speed with some continuity to
Speaker 1: get ready for the season. I think even if they
Speaker 1: do get something tenent better, it's the loss of training
Speaker 1: camp and in the continuity from it that I think
Speaker 1: is problematic there. But this Victor Wemman Yama thing might
Speaker 1: just have given him another chance. He's so incredibly good
Speaker 1: that there will be a good amount of tanking, and
Speaker 1: some of these teams that are concerned about potentially ditching
Speaker 1: some of their high quality role players that aren't contending
Speaker 1: will be more willing to do so because of this
Speaker 1: Victor woman Yama situation. So Rob Polinka just might end
Speaker 1: up falling asked backwards into a good trade here. If
Speaker 1: things pan out properly, He's got another chance here, but
Speaker 1: I think he needs to do so. I have not
Speaker 1: seen enough from Russ yet in preseason to tell me
Speaker 1: that he's changed and he's just gonna suddenly be a
Speaker 1: productive player on this team. So I'm still pro trading him,
Speaker 1: and Rob's gonna get his chance, I think as a
Speaker 1: result of this Victor women Yama thing. The last thing
Speaker 1: that I wanted to touch on today was Ben simmons.
Speaker 1: Um obviously hasn't looked great offensively here in the preseason.
Speaker 1: There's a pretty nasty video of him playing at a
Speaker 1: park and air bawling what looks like a twelve foot
Speaker 1: jump shot to the left. Um. I I disagree with
Speaker 1: a lot of people as it pertains to like, oh,
Speaker 1: he's right handed. He's not left handed like your dominant
Speaker 1: hands are dominant hand. I don't know what to tell you.
Speaker 1: It's a form issue. He cross fires. He holds the
Speaker 1: ball kind of like almost like this on the side
Speaker 1: of his head and then flings it almost to the side,
Speaker 1: and so when he lines it up right, it can
Speaker 1: it can be a decent shot, but it's just too
Speaker 1: easy for the shot to go off the rails in
Speaker 1: terms of form. And you saw a perfect example of
Speaker 1: it in that video that's going around. When you're when
Speaker 1: you cross fire, you're gonna have a lot of left
Speaker 1: to right misses, and he had a really bad left
Speaker 1: miss on that particular play. Do I think Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: needs to make threes to be a productive NBA player? No.
Speaker 1: What I do think, just like with Joannice, is you
Speaker 1: have to show a combination of a willingness to score
Speaker 1: the basketball either at the rim or before the rim,
Speaker 1: and you need to show a willingness to pass. He
Speaker 1: has the willingness to pass, and he can score at
Speaker 1: the rim. What he does not have is any sort
Speaker 1: of confidence to score somewhere between the perimeter and the rim.
Speaker 1: Doesn't have to be a three, doesn't have to be
Speaker 1: a pull up fifteen footer. It can be hook shots,
Speaker 1: it can be floaters, it can be short jump shots
Speaker 1: in the lane, but it has to be something. He's
Speaker 1: got to find something there that is a a coherent,
Speaker 1: reliable shot that will make teams guard him honestly, because
Speaker 1: if they don't guard him, honestly, then those passing opportunities
Speaker 1: aren't there for him, and now he becomes a defensive
Speaker 1: player that is an offensive liability, especially when you get
Speaker 1: into late rounds of the playoffs. And so again, like
Speaker 1: I think some of the focus on his jump shot
Speaker 1: is too much, but he I think. I think the
Speaker 1: easy answer is short jump shots like ten to fifteen
Speaker 1: foot jump shots that he could reliably make. But he's
Speaker 1: got to clean up some stuff with his form, and
Speaker 1: to me, it's that cross firing that he's got to
Speaker 1: get rid of. Al Right, guys, that is all I
Speaker 1: have for today. Like I said, we're gonna get into
Speaker 1: a ton of the other teams later on in this week.
Speaker 1: As always, I sincerely appreciate your support and I will
Speaker 1: see you next time. And the volume