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Speaker 1: The volume. Okay, so I was curious. I got into

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Speaker 1: this a little bit of a debate between Shay and

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Speaker 1: bu guys say a little bit. It was like forty

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Speaker 1: five minutes. But with the nerd Setch guys on their

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Speaker 1: pod the other day, so that'd be fun. Again, this

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Speaker 1: is just we're a third of the way through the season.

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Speaker 1: There are a lot of guys who could be considered here.

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Speaker 1: So like, for instance, Alpera and Shangoon would have been

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Speaker 1: like eleventh for me on this list. I think he's

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Speaker 1: been every bit as good as some of the guys

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Speaker 1: ahead of him. It's just the nature of how many

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Speaker 1: talented players we have in the league right now. And

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Speaker 1: I just wanted to briefly touch base on how I

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Speaker 1: think the top ten has looked strictly looking at how

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Speaker 1: guys have played from the start of this season to

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Speaker 1: where they're at right now. Combination of like their availability,

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Speaker 1: how good they've been when they've been on the floor,

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Speaker 1: how valuable they've been to their team when they've been

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Speaker 1: on the floor, and how their team has been performing

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Speaker 1: in the win loss column. That's kind of what I'm

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Speaker 1: combining here for these top ten guys. Again, just how

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Speaker 1: I feel right now. Top ten players in the league

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Speaker 1: based on how they've played this season. Number ten Anthony

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Speaker 1: Edwards sneaky having the best statistical season of his career.

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Speaker 1: Is averaging a career high twenty nine points per game

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Speaker 1: on fifty percent from the field, forty two percent from three,

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Speaker 1: and eighty three percent from the line, sixty four percent

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Speaker 1: true shooting. He's been deadly with his pull up three.

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Speaker 1: He's been getting to the rim more and finishing at

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Speaker 1: a higher clip at the rim than he ever has

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Speaker 1: in his career. I think that's a sign of just

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Speaker 1: like the level of maturity he's developed in terms of

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Speaker 1: the pacing on his drives, like slowing down, not just

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Speaker 1: flying downhill and throwing something off the glass, but being

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Speaker 1: more methodical about when he hits his gaps, waiting for

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Speaker 1: the defense to react in a way that gives him

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Speaker 1: an opportunity to go to the rim. It's weird because

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Speaker 1: he's been a little bit of a downtick in his

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Speaker 1: playmaking this year, but overall, he's just been better because

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Speaker 1: he's just been more methodical on his drives, and I

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Speaker 1: think that's made him a better player overall. What's hurting

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Speaker 1: him on this list is he's already missed more games

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Speaker 1: than he did in the entire previous two seasons combined,

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Speaker 1: so there's a little bit of an availability issue. And

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Speaker 1: the Wolves just haven't been very good this season. They're

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Speaker 1: seventeen to ten, but they're just two to eight versus

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Speaker 1: teams that are five hundred are better. Obviously, there's some

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Speaker 1: guys in this list that are also producing statistically, but

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Speaker 1: that are winning at a higher clip. Take for instance,

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Speaker 1: a guy like Jalen Brunson right number nine, Tyrese Maxi

51
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Speaker 1: just an insane year over year leap from him thirty

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Speaker 1: two points and seven assists per game on sixty percent

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Speaker 1: true shooting, with only two point seven turnovers per game,

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Speaker 1: so really high efficiency from tyree s Maxi. We're gonna

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Speaker 1: be talking a lot about turnovers, especially when we get

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Speaker 1: later into the list. I think turnovers, especially in the

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Speaker 1: modern MBA, when you're dealing with teams that push in

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Speaker 1: transition all the time, the turnovers are like they're not

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Speaker 1: always pick sixes, but like teams are getting crazy offensive

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Speaker 1: ratings off of turnovers around the league, sometimes as high

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Speaker 1: as one thirty one forty. They can be really deadly

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Speaker 1: to your defense and so taking care of the basketball

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Speaker 1: is an important part being a primary offensive weapon for

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Speaker 1: your team. He's shooting a preposterous forty nine percent on

65
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Speaker 1: catch and shoot threes this season, generating a ton of

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Speaker 1: offense with his ability to drive the basketball. And it's

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Speaker 1: kind of a combination of that classic conundrum of like,

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Speaker 1: if you play off of him, he's got the threat

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Speaker 1: of the shot. You play up on him, he's got

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Speaker 1: this absurd speed. It's been a major driver of this

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Speaker 1: team on offense. Again, I've been like a little disappointed

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Speaker 1: with Tyres in terms of some of his work on

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Speaker 1: the margins, Like I think he's been pretty bad off

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Speaker 1: the ball on defense, losing shooters, losing cutters, losing crashers.

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Speaker 1: But overall, I think he's been doing a carry job

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Speaker 1: for the Sixers offense, and I think he's taken a

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Speaker 1: leap into a completely different caliber of player than what

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Speaker 1: he was in years past. Number eight Steph Curry. The

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Speaker 1: Warriors have obviously been super disappointing this season, and that

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Speaker 1: certainly doesn't help Steph's case on a list like this,

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Speaker 1: But if you watch the Warriors, you know it's not

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Speaker 1: Steph's fault. Like I'm actually docking him more here for

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Speaker 1: availability than anything else. He just keeps getting banged up

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Speaker 1: and missing games. He's been healthy and on the floor,

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Speaker 1: he's been amazing thirty points per game on sixty six

86
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Speaker 1: percent true shooting, literally some of the highest volume and

87
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Speaker 1: efficiency scoring of his entire career. And then, once again,

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Speaker 1: just like last year, according to Cleaning the Glass, when

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Speaker 1: Steph is on the floor, they have an offensive rating

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Speaker 1: of one twenty. He is an elite offense in and

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Speaker 1: of himself, and it craters down to one oh nine

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Speaker 1: when he's off the floor. If he can stay healthy

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Speaker 1: and stay off the floor, he's closer to like the

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Speaker 1: sixth or fifth best player in the league and just

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Speaker 1: a guy who's playing some unbelievable basketball hidden in a

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Speaker 1: franchise that has failed to provide him with the supporting

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Speaker 1: talent he needs to compete in this league. Number seven

98
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Speaker 1: Victor Weminem the best defensive player in the league when

99
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Speaker 1: he's healthy, game breaking defensive talent that is capable of

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Speaker 1: feats like what he did to the Thunder in the

101
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Speaker 1: nd season Tournament semi final, a predictable leap on offense

102
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Speaker 1: year over years, over twenty five points per game in

103
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Speaker 1: over sixty percent true shooting for the first time in

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Speaker 1: his career. He's actually at sixty or excuse me, he's

105
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Speaker 1: actually at a twenty six points per game to start

106
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Speaker 1: the season. A few issues that have popped up that

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Speaker 1: have kept him down in this list. He keeps missing

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Speaker 1: games again, he's only played in thirteen games a season,

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Speaker 1: and he's had a little bit of a turnover issue,

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Speaker 1: especially when facing swarming defenses that don't let him work

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Speaker 1: one on one. That was a big trend that kind

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Speaker 1: of popped up there after the first couple weeks of

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Speaker 1: the season. That first couple of weeks, he was allowed

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Speaker 1: to work one on one a lot, and he was

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Speaker 1: putting up massive numbers. It's definitely gotten tougher for him

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Speaker 1: since then. That's clearly the next step, managing physicality, managing

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Speaker 1: double teams, finding a way for him to get closer

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Speaker 1: to the rim for easier shots without it resulting in turnovers,

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Speaker 1: without him getting kind of blown up off of his base.

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Speaker 1: Number six Jalen Brunson a career high twenty nine points

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Speaker 1: per game on sixty percent true shooting the season. He's

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Speaker 1: been getting more spot up opportunities than ever thanks to

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Speaker 1: the new offensive system that Mike Brown has installed, and

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Speaker 1: he's functioned really well in that new system. Fewer one

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Speaker 1: on ones, more drives to start possessions. He's starting the

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Speaker 1: engine in a lot of ways for them, but that

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Speaker 1: he's also having opportunities to rest and work off the

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Speaker 1: ball and attack with an advantage. That really is the

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Speaker 1: big one to me when it comes to the increase

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Speaker 1: in scoring volume while maintaining efficiency. Just a lot more

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Speaker 1: attacking with an advantage rather than having to go one

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Speaker 1: on one against a set defense, and he's helping to

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Speaker 1: spearhead one of the best year over year offensive leaps

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Speaker 1: that we've seen in the league. The Knicks as a

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Speaker 1: team this season are five points per one hundred possessions

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Speaker 1: better on offense than they were the year before, and

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Speaker 1: then within this season they crater by thirteen points per

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Speaker 1: one hundred possessions on offense. When Jalen Brunson goes to

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Speaker 1: the bench, he's just become one of the best offensive

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Speaker 1: engines in the league. And especially in the context of

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Speaker 1: how they've been winning as of late and the n

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Speaker 1: season tournament win, you got to have him pretty high

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Speaker 1: on a list like this. Number five. Jannas and Tenakumbo.

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Speaker 1: To be clear upfront, I'm not dropping him off of

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Speaker 1: what I consider to be the top four top tier

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Speaker 1: superstars in the league. This is more just how guys

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Speaker 1: have played this season, and he's just missed too much time.

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Speaker 1: He's missed ten games this season and that's what's docking

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Speaker 1: him in this situation. But when he's been healthy, he's

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Speaker 1: been an absolute monster. He's had the most efficient scoring

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Speaker 1: season of his career, sixty seven percent true shooting on

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Speaker 1: twenty nine points per game, forty four percent from three.

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Speaker 1: I'll be in on small volume has been weird. He's

154
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Speaker 1: been less efficient on his mid range jumper than he

155
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Speaker 1: was last season by pretty wide margin, but slight up

156
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Speaker 1: ticking three point volume, and he's been very efficient on

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Speaker 1: those threes when he's taken. Him just needs to find

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Speaker 1: a way to stay on the floor. It's the main

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Speaker 1: thing standing in the way of his standing in the

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Speaker 1: league right now. Like I had him four coming into

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Speaker 1: the season. You know, there's a lot of like buzz about, oh,

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Speaker 1: Jiannis is actually every bit as good as Yo Kitcher

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Speaker 1: Giannis is actually every bit as good as Shane. It's

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Speaker 1: like that may or may not be true, but he

165
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Speaker 1: just can't stay on the floor, and it's continued to

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Speaker 1: be an issue, whether he's missing postseason games like he

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Speaker 1: had in previous seasons or missing chunks of the regular season.

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Speaker 1: He's just as he's entered into his thirties, he's just

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Speaker 1: become a little bit more injury prone than he was

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Speaker 1: in years past. Number four the guy you have to

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Speaker 1: put pass Giannis just because of how good he's been

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Speaker 1: so far this season. Obviously, if I'm drafting a team

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Speaker 1: for just this season everyone's healthy, I would take Giannis Overcaid.

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Speaker 1: But Kaid for me is number four at this point

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Speaker 1: in the season, based purely on what we've seen to

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Speaker 1: this point, just a quintessential offensive engine in this league.

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Speaker 1: The Pistons score at a rate of one hundred and

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Speaker 1: twenty points per one hundred possession, so one twenty offensive rating.

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Speaker 1: When he's on the floor. He's been absolutely dominant in

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Speaker 1: crunch time. He's twenty six for forty eight from the

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Speaker 1: field in the last five minutes of games when the

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Speaker 1: when the scorer is within five points, He's already made

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Speaker 1: four more clutch shots than he did in the entire

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Speaker 1: year last year. As he's turned a team that was

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Speaker 1: twenty one and twenty three in clutch games last year

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Speaker 1: to fourteen and four to start this season. Really the

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Speaker 1: biggest difference between where they were this time last year

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Speaker 1: and where they are this season. Twenty seven points and

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Speaker 1: nine rebounds per nine assists per game, excuse me on

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Speaker 1: fifty seven percent for shooting, and it still feels like

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Speaker 1: he's going to eventually get better as a shooter and

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Speaker 1: as a finisher as the years go by. The three

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Speaker 1: point shot has been ticking up as of late, he's

194
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Speaker 1: still just barely scratching the surface of his potential this league,

195
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Speaker 1: and he's already the best player on a twenty one

196
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Speaker 1: to five, number one seed in the Eastern Conference, number

197
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Speaker 1: three Luka Dancic. This has been one of my biggest

198
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Speaker 1: changes from before the season. I want to be clear

199
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Speaker 1: this is this goes both ways. It's not just that

200
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Speaker 1: Luca has been somewhat disappointing, which we'll talk about in

201
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Speaker 1: the second. Shay's also taken a leap. Shay's five percent

202
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Speaker 1: year of a year better in true shooting percentage while

203
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Speaker 1: also cutting his turnovers to one point nine turnovers per game.

204
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Speaker 1: So Shay's just considerably better than he was last year,

205
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Speaker 1: fueled by an improved three point shot obviously, the dropping

206
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Speaker 1: turnovers as well, and Luca, I mean, after shooting incredibly

207
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Speaker 1: well in his first three games, ever, since the first

208
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Speaker 1: three games of the season, Lucas just forty three percent

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Speaker 1: from the field and just thirty two percent from three,

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Speaker 1: with four point five turnovers per game and a lot

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Speaker 1: of just like grifting in the middle of the floor,

212
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Speaker 1: trying to work his way to the foul line to

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Speaker 1: bolster his scoring rather than focusing on making shots. And

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Speaker 1: there's been just frankly, a massive chasm in a fishing

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Speaker 1: between him and Shake Kildas Alexander, and that's become a

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Speaker 1: big differentiator between them, I even think, more so than

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Speaker 1: anything on the defensive end of the floor. I think

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Speaker 1: Luca's actually been pretty solid on the defensive end. I

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Speaker 1: Shay's obviously a better defender than him, and I think

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Speaker 1: some of the stuff with Luca's defense is more matchup dependent,

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Speaker 1: specifically teams that can truly space the floor and drive.

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Speaker 1: That's where he becomes a bigger issue to me. The

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Speaker 1: turnovers and the lack of efficiency on actual shots is

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Speaker 1: what's hurting him. Again, Like, when you think about it,

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Speaker 1: we talked about this a little bit earlier in the show,

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Speaker 1: But when you look at how much of the game

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Speaker 1: is geared around the transition attack, like you have, you know, roughly,

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Speaker 1: you know, one fifth to one fourth of the possessions

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Speaker 1: in the game that are played in transition. And you

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Speaker 1: look at how efficient teams are off of live ball rebounds,

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Speaker 1: and you look at how efficient teams are off of

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Speaker 1: live ball turnovers, and like, especially in the Lakers ball

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Speaker 1: screen attack, because they don't pop, like, they don't have

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Speaker 1: bigs that pop, they have bigs that roll. And so

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Speaker 1: when you're on pick and roll at the top of

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Speaker 1: the key and you've got your big man rolling and

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Speaker 1: you've got your guard driving, you're typically only gonna have

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Speaker 1: one person above the foul line, which can lead to

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Speaker 1: floor balance issues. So those turnovers on cross court passes

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Speaker 1: or even when he's trying to grift, there's a lot

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Speaker 1: of players where he's trying to grift there at the

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Speaker 1: foul line, and you'll like pump fake, pump fake, and

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Speaker 1: then lean into the guy and shoot and he'll miss,

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Speaker 1: and then he turns and starts complaining into the refs

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Speaker 1: while the team's running out the other way. In transition.

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Speaker 1: He had a brutally bad one in that Spurs game

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Speaker 1: at the end of the first half where they gave

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Speaker 1: up a dunk to Harrison Barnes because he was complaining

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Speaker 1: at the refs after a turnover. And it's like it's

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Speaker 1: one of those things where, just in general with Luca,

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Speaker 1: there's this obvious statistical performance. The free throws boost his

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Speaker 1: true shooting percentage to where he's still relatively efficient compared

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Speaker 1: to what you think looking at his shooting percentages, but

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Speaker 1: you're just getting considerably more missed shots, in considerably more

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Speaker 1: turnovers per game, which are fueling the transition attack for

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Speaker 1: the opponent, which effectively is like cutting him off at

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Speaker 1: the knees in terms of the how impactful he is. Again,

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Speaker 1: I'm splitting hairs here. I'm comparing him to the very

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Speaker 1: best players in the world. I just think it's become

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Speaker 1: a differentiator between him and a guy like Shay. I

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Speaker 1: was talking with Carson, and I didn't agree with everything

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Speaker 1: Carson was saying. One of the things Carson said is

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Speaker 1: like he thinks Shay is like forever going to be

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Speaker 1: better than Luca. I think Shay is obviously better than

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Speaker 1: Luca now and there's probably it's probably more likely than

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Speaker 1: not that Shay stays better. But basketball is of what

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Speaker 1: have you done for me lately? Sport Luca's gonna have

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Speaker 1: his chances to improve. He could play better starting tomorrow,

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Speaker 1: right like, we want to know where I bet on

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Speaker 1: three to three play wise in Indiana, if you were

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Speaker 1: someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help,

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Speaker 1: call one eight hundred and nine with it gambling problem

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Speaker 1: called one eight hundred gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan,

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Speaker 1: New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia or tonight, I should say,

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Speaker 1: like there's a there is a path for Luca to

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Speaker 1: flip this script and to get back to being a

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Speaker 1: better basketball player than Shay. But he's lost ground at

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Speaker 1: this point and it's gonna take a lot. It's gonna

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Speaker 1: take a lot of work. For him to get past him.

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Speaker 1: The big thing is just cleaning up that efficiency, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think I think in general with Luca, it's not

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Speaker 1: just the turnovers either. It's the little grifty stuff around

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Speaker 1: the lane line. It's the two or three awful step

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Speaker 1: back threes he takes every game that are as bad

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Speaker 1: as turnovers. To me, Luca's just got to trim the fat.

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Speaker 1: This is the phase of the Like he's averaging an

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Speaker 1: efficient thirty five points per game with what nine assist

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Speaker 1: per game or whatever it is. It's really easy to

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Speaker 1: look at that and just be like, Oh, he's incredible,

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Speaker 1: and he is, but there's like a big chunk of

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Speaker 1: that that's being undercut with some of the mistake making.

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Speaker 1: He just has to refine that over the course of

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Speaker 1: the next few seasons. Sha kills is Alexander to me

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Speaker 1: is the clear number two. Again, we talked about it earlier.

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Speaker 1: Five percent year over year leap and true shooting percentage,

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Speaker 1: fueled by a massively improved three point shot that has

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Speaker 1: been deadly for him in every phase, both off the

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Speaker 1: catch and off the dribble. That off the dribble three

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Speaker 1: has become a go to move for him in crunch time.

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Speaker 1: Multiple teams this year have taken that shotgun blast to

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Speaker 1: the chest to the like, oh, we're making a run

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Speaker 1: and it's a close game, but then Shae just hits

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Speaker 1: a tough step back three and it just erases any

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Speaker 1: momentum that you have. And then again doing all of

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Speaker 1: this with cutting his turnovers down to one point nine

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Speaker 1: turnovers per game, I don't think it'll stay quite that

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Speaker 1: low as the competition has gotten more difficult. So for instance,

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Speaker 1: against Phoenix and San Antonio the last two games, he

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Speaker 1: had nine turnovers. I think his turnovers will tick up

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Speaker 1: a little bit, but they do clearly look like they're

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Speaker 1: going to be trending to be below where they were

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Speaker 1: last season. And that's really the case for Shaye. Like

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Speaker 1: if you're looking at Shae as a basketball player, overall,

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Speaker 1: his playmaking is at a higher level than it's ever been.

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Speaker 1: You can't tell in the stats because his minutes are down,

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Speaker 1: but if you look at a per thirty six level,

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Speaker 1: he's like right around seven assists per thirty six minutes.

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Speaker 1: So there's a level of playmaking that he's reached and

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Speaker 1: a level of scoring and scoring efficiency that he's reached.

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Speaker 1: Like when you're a guard in you're scoring over thirty

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Speaker 1: points per game and you're up over sixty five percent

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Speaker 1: for shooting like he is. I think he's at what

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Speaker 1: sixty seven percent for shooting. When you're in that territory,

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Speaker 1: you're now talking like unanimous MVP Steph Curry twenty sixteen

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Speaker 1: type of numbers. Right like that season, I think Steph

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Speaker 1: was thirty points per game on sixty seven percent for shooting.

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Speaker 1: Shay's gonna rival that this year. That's the type of

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Speaker 1: efficiency we're getting from the guard position. It's an entirely

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Speaker 1: different ballpark than where Luke is at right now. And

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Speaker 1: then you combine that with the lack of turnovers, which

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Speaker 1: then helps their transition defense. Shay. You know, if you

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Speaker 1: want to tell me purely, if you're a Luca believer

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Speaker 1: and you argue that lucas better than Shay, and you

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Speaker 1: want to tell me, like you know, Luca is a

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Speaker 1: more high volume score who's still very efficient and he's

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Speaker 1: a better playmaker, I would agree with you on that.

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Speaker 1: Like he is. He clearly does score at a higher

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Speaker 1: volume and he does playmake pretty well. But the gap

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Speaker 1: between him and Shay is actually very small. As a matter

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Speaker 1: of fact, on a per thirty six minute basis, I

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Speaker 1: think Shay is actually a little bit ahead of Loose

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Speaker 1: right now. And then Shay is just dramatically more efficient,

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Speaker 1: and he's still a very good playmaker. So the gap

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Speaker 1: there is really small. And where Shay takes a massive

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Speaker 1: leap over Luca is Lucas shooting himself in the foot

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Speaker 1: with damn near five turnovers a game over the course

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Speaker 1: of this recent stretch, and he's just missing so many

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Speaker 1: more shots, and every missed shot is an opportunity for

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Speaker 1: a team to run out In transition, I think Shay

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Speaker 1: has been a better player than Luca this year. I

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Speaker 1: don't think he's been quite a Jokices level, which we're

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Speaker 1: talking about in the second, but I think he's the

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Speaker 1: clear second best player in the league to start the season.

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Speaker 1: Number one Nicole Jokic thirty points, twelve rebounds, and eleven

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Speaker 1: assists this year, seventy two percent true shooting, so career

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Speaker 1: highs in scoring and inefficiency. There's even a gap of

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Speaker 1: pretty substantial gap between where Shay is in Jokic, and

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Speaker 1: that just goes to show you the entire different level

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Speaker 1: that Jokic is at as an offensive player right now.

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Speaker 1: To me, he's the best offensive player in the history

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Speaker 1: of the league. He's playing the very best basketball of

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Speaker 1: his career. The Nuggets are seventeen points better one hundred

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Speaker 1: posessions on offense with him on versus off And then

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Speaker 1: here's the last stat I'm going to leave you guys

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Speaker 1: with tonight. That is the clearest indicator of what separates

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Speaker 1: him from the pack. If you throw the ball to

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Speaker 1: nikoljokicch in the post, regardless of what happens, he shoots,

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Speaker 1: he passes. If you throw the ball to Nikol jokicch

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Speaker 1: in the post, the Nuggets have scored sixty one percent

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Speaker 1: of their possessions score percentage, So not points per possession,

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Speaker 1: not field goal percentage, not anything. Just strictly, if I,

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Speaker 1: if I toss the ball to jokchen the post, what

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Speaker 1: is my chance of putting points on the board? Sixty

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Speaker 1: one percent. He's the most reliable individual play type in

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Speaker 1: the league. He's the most reliable offensive player in the league.

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Speaker 1: He's simply the best offensive player in the league. And

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Speaker 1: when he's been on the floor, the Nuggets have scored

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Speaker 1: at a completely preposterous rate. To me, he's the best

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Speaker 1: offensive player of all time, playing at the peak of

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00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:52,280
Speaker 1: his powers. He's been having a pretty good defensive season

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Speaker 1: as well. I have Nikola Jokic still as the best

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Speaker 1: player in the world. All right, guys, this is all

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Speaker 1: I have for today. Is always as sincerely percent you

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Speaker 1: guys ording us and supporting the show. We'll be back

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Speaker 1: on Friday with the Mailbag. I'll see you guys. Don