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Speaker 1: to Hoops Tonight, presented by Vanduel here at the volume.
Speaker 1: Happy Thursday. Everybody, you've almost made it to the weekend.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep things really simple in terms of the
Speaker 1: schedule for the next week or so. Today we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about Bucks nets from last night as well as
Speaker 1: Lakers Wolves from last night. Then tomorrow a video I'm
Speaker 1: actually recording today, but tomorrow we're releasing about twentysomething minutes
Speaker 1: on the Redeemed Team documentary, which I thought was super
Speaker 1: interesting and there were a bunch of topics kind of
Speaker 1: surrounding that, um whole era of USA basketball and I
Speaker 1: think are super interesting that will dive into. And then
Speaker 1: as we go into next week, on Monday, we're gonna
Speaker 1: do our season preview, just get some picks, some final
Speaker 1: picks put down for the season on the record, and
Speaker 1: then Tuesday night is our first live show of the season,
Speaker 1: immediately after the final buzzer of Lakers Warriors. That is
Speaker 1: how close we are things getting started, and I'm very
Speaker 1: very excited for that. So you guys know the joke
Speaker 1: before we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube channel
Speaker 1: so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow
Speaker 1: me on Twitter so you don't miss any show announcements,
Speaker 1: as well as the footage breakdowns that I do. That's
Speaker 1: where they go. And then, last but not least, for
Speaker 1: whatever reason, you miss one of these shows and you
Speaker 1: can't get back over to YouTube to finish them. You
Speaker 1: can find them wherever you get your podcasts Under Hoops tonight.
Speaker 1: And on that note, let's talk some basketball, So nets Bucks,
Speaker 1: I I want to start with Ben Simmons because I
Speaker 1: thought this was his best game of the preseason so far,
Speaker 1: and the game that kind of best indicated his ability
Speaker 1: to impact winning for this particular team. So um, I
Speaker 1: kind of start to see two very unique roles shaping
Speaker 1: for Ben Simmons, kind of like a first unit role
Speaker 1: and then like a second unit roll. Now it remains
Speaker 1: to be seen how often he kind of ends up
Speaker 1: in this type of role, because I would imagine they'll
Speaker 1: stagger Kyrie and Katie a lot this season. But when
Speaker 1: he's playing alongside Kyrie and k D, he's kind of
Speaker 1: in that Bruce Brown Brown roll, right, like he's part
Speaker 1: of the actions that they're running. It's a lot of
Speaker 1: dribble handoffs, that's a lot of screening and slipping to
Speaker 1: the short role. He's you know, out of the short role,
Speaker 1: he's making reads, kicking the shooters or trying to finish
Speaker 1: at the rim. A lot of screening, a lot of cutting,
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff that's to be expected. That's kind
Speaker 1: of what Bruce Brown did minus the shooting actually obviously.
Speaker 1: But I don't think we're gonna get any of that
Speaker 1: out of Ben Simmons this year. But I don't think
Speaker 1: we're gonna get any of that out of Ben Simmons
Speaker 1: ever at this point. Um, But then you saw him
Speaker 1: in the second unit there and started to attack and
Speaker 1: high pick and roll and they were just setting really
Speaker 1: high ball screens, and um, the thing that was encouraging
Speaker 1: is as he was going to his strong hand to
Speaker 1: the left, he started looking to score a little bit.
Speaker 1: He actually went three for five in this game. He
Speaker 1: made a really nice little right handed floater along like
Speaker 1: about the third lane line on the left side, and
Speaker 1: then a couple of possessions later he tried the exact
Speaker 1: same thing and missed it, but again went back to it,
Speaker 1: which is good, got an offensive rebound and actually turned
Speaker 1: and made a really nice little like six or seven
Speaker 1: foot hook shot with his right hand. Again, him looking
Speaker 1: to score is going to be the thing that causes
Speaker 1: teams to actually try to guard him. Later on, in
Speaker 1: that uh specific stint, he was on the right block
Speaker 1: in a post up and because he had just made
Speaker 1: a right handed hook shot, a couple of possessions Earlier,
Speaker 1: Utu want to Nabi's man helped dug In to try
Speaker 1: to stop Ben Simmons in the post, kicked it out
Speaker 1: to Utah and he knocked down to three again like
Speaker 1: there's a careful balance. Doesn't need to be a gunner,
Speaker 1: doesn't need to take ten shots a game, but just
Speaker 1: a willingness to try to score the basketball when he
Speaker 1: has left on an island, or when he's attacking downhill
Speaker 1: and pick and roll, or in the short roll somewhere
Speaker 1: in that ten foot area. That's all he needs in
Speaker 1: order to impact this team at the highest level. He
Speaker 1: needs to show a willingness to score when he's within
Speaker 1: ten ft of the rim. He's so gifted going downhill
Speaker 1: to the rim that that's enough to cause teams to
Speaker 1: actually collapse around him as long as he's willing to score.
Speaker 1: Doesn't need to knock down threes, that's not his job
Speaker 1: on this team. Just needs a show willingness to score there. Um.
Speaker 1: He also did a nice shop in the first unit,
Speaker 1: attacking the offensive glass um and getting started, getting the
Speaker 1: getting the nets started into their driving kick in that way.
Speaker 1: Uh Then on the defensive end of the floor, look
Speaker 1: look like from the opening tip of this game, you
Speaker 1: could and Janice and Ben Simmons have always had like
Speaker 1: a little bit of a thing um, you know, And
Speaker 1: I think Janice has obviously won that battle resoundingly, but
Speaker 1: Joannice always takes it personally. Whenever he plays against Ben Simmons,
Speaker 1: he tries to humiliate him and to Ben Simmons credit.
Speaker 1: Like in this game, it was more of the same.
Speaker 1: Nice was going at him every time down the floor,
Speaker 1: and he held up pretty well. There was a couple
Speaker 1: of breakdowns. There was a baseline out of balance play
Speaker 1: where Janice kind of hit him with the swim move
Speaker 1: and dunked a lob. There's another play where in transition,
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons was back backpedaling too much so he didn't
Speaker 1: really have his ground to stand and Yannis just plowed
Speaker 1: through his chest actually missed a layup, but you know
Speaker 1: how Yannese is, he just immediately got the offensive rebound
Speaker 1: and put it back up and in. But when they
Speaker 1: were actually in the half court setting and Janice was
Speaker 1: trying to attack Ben Simmons chest to chest, I thought
Speaker 1: he held up pretty well as well as you'll see
Speaker 1: a wing do in this league. What you know, I've
Speaker 1: talked a lot about the best perimeter defenders in this league,
Speaker 1: and we've talked about Jayson Tatum and Andrew Wiggins and
Speaker 1: Michael Bridges, and Ben Simmons is in that grouping for
Speaker 1: me as well. And what sets Ben Simmons apart from
Speaker 1: his peers in that regardless He's bigger and stronger, and
Speaker 1: the Jannice matchup in particular, he rips through guys like
Speaker 1: Andrew Wiggins and Michael Bridges and Jayson Tatum and in
Speaker 1: that matchup because they're just too skinny and he just
Speaker 1: he just man handles those guys. Ben Simmons is a
Speaker 1: little bigger, little stronger, little more stout, little more willing
Speaker 1: to hold his ground. And you saw that actually amount
Speaker 1: to a pretty decent matchup for the Nets. Now why
Speaker 1: does that matter? That matters because when we get into
Speaker 1: a playoff series, if you're looking at a matchup between
Speaker 1: the Nets and the Bucks, aside from Ben Simmons, there's
Speaker 1: not really anybody on that roster that you feel comfortable
Speaker 1: leaving on Janice for long stretches and doing well right
Speaker 1: like it, I think they'd end up going with someone
Speaker 1: like Nick Klaxson, hed get buried underneath the rim in
Speaker 1: most cases, so you know, having that as a weapon
Speaker 1: someone to throw at Janice in a playoff series not
Speaker 1: gonna stop him. We learned that with the Boston Celtics
Speaker 1: last year. You're not stopping Janice Antenna Coompa. But if
Speaker 1: you can drop his efficiency, and he was six of
Speaker 1: twenty one in this game, if you could drop his efficiency,
Speaker 1: you give your team a chance to win. Now again,
Speaker 1: holding your honest to six of twenty one, that is
Speaker 1: a team effort. They were crowding him every time down
Speaker 1: the floor. There's not a player in the world they
Speaker 1: can guard Jannie on an island. But Ben does a
Speaker 1: pretty good job. I was impressed by him last night.
Speaker 1: It was it was a good for their dress rehearsal
Speaker 1: before the season starts. That's about his encourage a performance
Speaker 1: from Ben Simmons. As you could see, there was one
Speaker 1: last little play in their uh second quarter where Drew
Speaker 1: Holiday gotta switch on Ben Simmons, and Ben Simmons smothered
Speaker 1: him on the isolation possession, forced him into a really
Speaker 1: tough step back that barely grazed the rim. They immediately
Speaker 1: ran down the other end and got an alley you dunk,
Speaker 1: and I was just like, man, this guy is so
Speaker 1: ridiculously versatile. He's guarding a little guard and locking him
Speaker 1: up a couple of possessions after he's holding his own
Speaker 1: against one of the most dominant power forwards that we
Speaker 1: have in the history of basketball. So kudos to Ben Simmons.
Speaker 1: A really really impressive game. Um, Katie and Kyrie they
Speaker 1: were plus thirteen and plus twelve respectively in this game.
Speaker 1: Their continuity is really starting to show. They have such
Speaker 1: a natural feel for how to play off of each other,
Speaker 1: and Kevin Durant in particular so good at hunting Kyrie
Speaker 1: in his spots. You know, I I talked a lot
Speaker 1: about if you guys remember with Jayson Tatum and Jalen Brown,
Speaker 1: how you know we kind of look at their scoring
Speaker 1: totals and we just think, oh, like this is the uh,
Speaker 1: this is your stereotypical twenty point per game guy, and
Speaker 1: this guy is twenty six point per per game guy. Okay,
Speaker 1: so they're both just scores, no, no, no, Like Jayson
Speaker 1: Tatum is more of a do everything forward that can
Speaker 1: pass the basketball and Jaylen Brown is more of a
Speaker 1: tunnel vision score. Not that there's anything wrong with either archetype.
Speaker 1: They actually compliment each other really well. One of the
Speaker 1: ways that things go off the rails for the Celtics
Speaker 1: is when Jayson Tatum starts to look for a shot
Speaker 1: too much rather than embracing that playmaking role, and that
Speaker 1: kind of like dynamic that's split there, that's taking place
Speaker 1: in Boston where Jalen Brown is becoming more of the
Speaker 1: dynamic go to score and Jayson Tatum is becoming more
Speaker 1: of the advantage creator. That dynamic is going to make
Speaker 1: Boston a better team. And you're starting to see that
Speaker 1: same type of dynamic happen with Kevin Durant. And Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant is actually a better passer than Jayson Tatum. He's
Speaker 1: a better passer than a lot of the small forwards
Speaker 1: around the league right now. One of the things that
Speaker 1: I've been most impressed by in this preseason is Kevin
Speaker 1: Durants passing. You guys remember that from some of the
Speaker 1: other games that we covered, But it's a similar dynamic
Speaker 1: for him and Kyrie unique kaye E to start to
Speaker 1: kind of become that gunning score, and you need Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant to kind of become more of the advantage creator,
Speaker 1: the guy that kind of makes the offense work. And
Speaker 1: I'm seeing that in this preseason, and I like what
Speaker 1: I'm seeing as a result. This is this is a
Speaker 1: very similar dynamic to the Lebron Kyrie thing. Do you remember.
Speaker 1: I I remember like the the it was almost like
Speaker 1: two thirds of the game Lebron was controlling things, scoring, passing,
Speaker 1: the usual Lebron ball, and then like a third of
Speaker 1: the game the other chunk of possessions Kyrie. A lot
Speaker 1: of times they'll just dribble the basketball up the floor
Speaker 1: and shoot like they're like dribbles on a possession with
Speaker 1: no passes. And you know, at the time, I remember
Speaker 1: like thinking, man, this is crazy. I don't understand why
Speaker 1: they do this. This is early in like two thousand sixteen.
Speaker 1: But then it kind of dawned on me that what
Speaker 1: was beautiful about it was Lebron got to rest on
Speaker 1: those possessions because Kyrie is so good at creating shots
Speaker 1: and congested environments that it's almost like Lebron can take
Speaker 1: half of the take for a third of the game.
Speaker 1: He could take the offensive end of the floor off
Speaker 1: and focus his energy onto the defensive end of the floor,
Speaker 1: essentially biding his energy for the larger portions of the
Speaker 1: game when he has to be aggressive. That's kind of
Speaker 1: the dynamic you're seeing forming with this Kyrie Irving and
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant thing. If Kyrie guns and creates a bunch
Speaker 1: of this offense, it alleviates pressure on Kevin Durant so
Speaker 1: that he can focus on being a playmaker for larger
Speaker 1: portions of the game, focus on the defensive end of
Speaker 1: the game, and then when the team needs him to
Speaker 1: create shots, obviously he's the best at it because he's taller,
Speaker 1: he's got one of the highest release points that we've
Speaker 1: ever seen, and the Duke knockdown shots from everywhere on
Speaker 1: the floor. So that dynamic, that split that we're seeing there,
Speaker 1: that's a product of continuity from them playing together for
Speaker 1: a long time, Kevin Durant's development of development as a passer,
Speaker 1: and then just kind of realizing what their natural roles
Speaker 1: are on this team overall, kind of looking back at
Speaker 1: the nets over the preseason and in this particular game,
Speaker 1: they're just competing a lot better on the defensive end
Speaker 1: of the floor. And the athleticism, the influx of athleticism
Speaker 1: on the wing really helps. Having Royce O'Neil there. Having
Speaker 1: Ben Simmons there, that's just better basketball players, better athletes,
Speaker 1: guys that can rive in the physicality, that in that
Speaker 1: uptick and talent on that specific area of their roster
Speaker 1: is helping them a lot on the defensive end of
Speaker 1: the floor, and then on the offensive end, they're just
Speaker 1: you know, I gotta give him some credit. I criticized that,
Speaker 1: not criticized, but I characterized the Nets in our season
Speaker 1: previews as a team that doesn't run a lot of offense,
Speaker 1: and they'll run it on dead ball situations, they'll run
Speaker 1: it sometimes after free throws for the other team, but
Speaker 1: they don't run a lot of sets. Well, in this preseason,
Speaker 1: they've been running a lot more actions when they get
Speaker 1: down the floor. Again, I trust brute force offense. I
Speaker 1: think it translates to the playoffs better than most forms
Speaker 1: of offense because it's it's kind of like immune to scheming,
Speaker 1: so to speak. But it's nice when you can supplement
Speaker 1: your incredibly difficult shot making from guys like Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: and Kyrie with easy stuff by running sets and so
Speaker 1: seeing them run a little bit more offensive organization, I
Speaker 1: think is is encouraging to say the least looking over
Speaker 1: the bucks. Jannat didn't shoot well, like I said, but
Speaker 1: he got a lot of really good looks around the
Speaker 1: basket that he usually makes. Spacing is a legitimate concerned
Speaker 1: with this team. Now, remember Chris Middleton's out and he's
Speaker 1: gonna help with that a lot. We've talked about that
Speaker 1: a lot in the season preview. We'll talk about it
Speaker 1: more here in a couple of minutes. But they ended
Speaker 1: up going huge with Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis in
Speaker 1: the starting lineup and the nets are just swarming you, honest, everywhere,
Speaker 1: which is a huge part of why he went six one.
Speaker 1: They might need to consider balancing those lineups with some
Speaker 1: more shooting. Portis and Lopez both can shoot, and if
Speaker 1: you leave them open, they'll make you pay from time
Speaker 1: to time, but neither of them are guarded as shooters.
Speaker 1: This is a concept to talk about all the time
Speaker 1: on the show. If a guy shoots thirty eight percent
Speaker 1: on six attempts per game and he's getting panic chased
Speaker 1: off the line everywhere, that's different than a guy that
Speaker 1: goes thirty eight percent on three attempts per game and
Speaker 1: he's wide open every time. First of all, thirty eight
Speaker 1: percent on a wide open shot is not the same
Speaker 1: percentage as thirty eight percent on tougher movement shots or
Speaker 1: contested shots and things along those lines. And then secondly,
Speaker 1: all of those possessions, the option two is not being
Speaker 1: guarded and option one is getting panic chased all over
Speaker 1: the floor. So there's a huge differ, friends between just
Speaker 1: looking at three point percentages and looking at the context
Speaker 1: of the way teams actually guard those shooters when they're
Speaker 1: on the floor. So playing a portis playing a Brook
Speaker 1: Lopez alongside Janice. Yeah, they're gonna get They're gonna take
Speaker 1: and make some threes, but their men are ignoring them
Speaker 1: and and and digging down on Jannice all game long.
Speaker 1: So it's just something that they're gonna have to figure
Speaker 1: out in terms of balance. That's why I'm so excited
Speaker 1: to see Chris Middleton come back, because he's one of
Speaker 1: the best spot up players in the league, not just
Speaker 1: knocking down threes but also attacking closeouts. You start to
Speaker 1: look at the way these lineups are are structured, and
Speaker 1: if you have your Honice out there, you have Drew
Speaker 1: Holiday who gets guarded like a shooter, you have Chris
Speaker 1: Middleton who gets guarded like a shooter. Now I've got
Speaker 1: two guys in the off ball rolls that are guarded
Speaker 1: like shooters. Now I can afford to have one of
Speaker 1: those guys potentially be a little bit more of an
Speaker 1: iffy shooter. Maybe that's a Lopez if you go big right,
Speaker 1: maybe it's a Bobby Portis. But then if I can
Speaker 1: go with, you know, someone like a Grayson Allen or
Speaker 1: or Joe Ingles or somebody that's a more die namic shooter.
Speaker 1: Now I have three off ball players next to you,
Speaker 1: honest that I'm actually treating with respect when they're off
Speaker 1: the ball. So, but you take Middleton out of that
Speaker 1: equation and you replace him with somebody that's not being guarded,
Speaker 1: that just that one player kind of swings the pendulum
Speaker 1: too far towards congestion around Janice and then his efficiency tanks.
Speaker 1: So it's just something that having Chris Middleton back is
Speaker 1: gonna be huge. And then just general with lineup structure,
Speaker 1: then he might need to have a little bit more
Speaker 1: balance with shooting. Last note on the Knucks, excuse me
Speaker 1: the Bucks. Uh, Javon Carter had a really nice night. Uh,
Speaker 1: specifically with pull up shooting. I'm gonna keep hammering this
Speaker 1: kind of stuff home because I think these are specific
Speaker 1: concepts that are really important in modern basketball. Uh. Tons
Speaker 1: of dribble handoffs and ball screen actions with Janice and
Speaker 1: guys are going underneath. The screens are dying on the
Speaker 1: screen because the honest is so damn big and such
Speaker 1: a good screener. There's just openings there for people that
Speaker 1: can knock down pull up jump shots. It is the
Speaker 1: thing that beats most coverages. Javon had a really nice
Speaker 1: night pull up shooting. It was a big part of
Speaker 1: some of the Bucks offensive offensive success. Tip off the
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Speaker 1: futures that I would keep an eye on if I
Speaker 1: were you. Guys. Among the favorites to win the title,
Speaker 1: I really like the Warriors. Among the long shot bets
Speaker 1: to win the title, I really like the seventies sixers
Speaker 1: and the Dallas Mavericks and then on the m v
Speaker 1: P front, I think Janice is gonna get it this year.
Speaker 1: I really don't understand why Luca is the favorite. I
Speaker 1: don't think they're gonna win nearly enough regular season games.
Speaker 1: Janice is just a safe bet to put up monster
Speaker 1: numbers to win a ton of games, and it's been
Speaker 1: long enough since he won his last one that I
Speaker 1: think he's gonna have some pull with the voters. Vandel
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Speaker 1: to the Lakers and the Wolves. I'm not gonna talk
Speaker 1: too much about the Wolves because we just talked about
Speaker 1: them yesterday, but I do want to touch on a
Speaker 1: couple of quick things. First of all, this is the
Speaker 1: first team to outplay the Lakers core lineups so far
Speaker 1: in this preseason. Got to give him some credit. There
Speaker 1: little context. They were plus ten with Lebron, so they
Speaker 1: really just struggled with the non Lebron lineups. Also, the
Speaker 1: Lakers shot like shit. Although the Lakers are not a
Speaker 1: good shooting team. We'll get to that in a minute,
Speaker 1: but kudos to the Wolves first team to outplay the
Speaker 1: Lakers core lineups in the preseason. That means something. Um,
Speaker 1: Kyle Anderson, now we always knew he was a good
Speaker 1: wing defender, but you know this, I was really disappointed
Speaker 1: with Minnesota's perimeter defense in general yesterday when I was
Speaker 1: watching them and Kydle. You know, they certainly held up
Speaker 1: better today, but that's still a big weakness on this
Speaker 1: particular roster. They're gonna rely on Rudy Gobert to do
Speaker 1: a lot around the basket, but I do think Kyle
Speaker 1: Anderson um counterbalances that a little bit because his length
Speaker 1: is a legitimate problem. He probably had a half dozen
Speaker 1: deflections in this game, causing problems for basic things like
Speaker 1: post entries, Lebron trying to hit cutters, or things like
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis trying to pass out of post ups, things
Speaker 1: along those lines. He just shrinks passing lanes and makes
Speaker 1: things really difficult, just in the basic flow of offense.
Speaker 1: I thought, I thought that was a really nice pick
Speaker 1: up this summer, and he definitely alleviates some of their
Speaker 1: perimeter defense problems. A couple other Wolves I wanted to
Speaker 1: shout out Jalen to well, Dude, some shot making from
Speaker 1: him in that five to ten foot range in this
Speaker 1: game was ridiculous. Short fade aways, push shots, things along
Speaker 1: those lines, plays where Lakers were draped all over him,
Speaker 1: playing excellent defense, and he's just knocking down shots over
Speaker 1: the top. He didn't wasn't making his perimeter shot in
Speaker 1: this game, but he was showing some really nice shot
Speaker 1: making in that short rang in Jeria, which I think
Speaker 1: is one of the most underrated scoring areas in the league.
Speaker 1: He also defended really well. Just an interesting young guard.
Speaker 1: I think Jordan McLoughlin I don't like that much and
Speaker 1: I don't think he's gonna be able to fulfill kind
Speaker 1: of what Patrick Beverley did. But Jalen No, Well, I
Speaker 1: do think kind of makes up for some of their
Speaker 1: losses from the Rudy Gobert trade and then nas Read
Speaker 1: his perimeter shooting really made Anthony Davis pay for roaming
Speaker 1: off the ball. They're playing Anthony Davis at the five.
Speaker 1: He's sagging back off of everything. Nasa Read only made
Speaker 1: three threes out of six tries. But if you think
Speaker 1: about it, I mean, that's nine points that if that's
Speaker 1: not a stretch, Big Anthony Davis is now shutting everything
Speaker 1: down around the basket. All three of those possessions are
Speaker 1: probably stops. Hey, this was an eight point game at halftime.
Speaker 1: That's the difference between you being down one or up
Speaker 1: by eight. Right, is a NASA red coming out and
Speaker 1: knocking down shots. Um looking forward to the Lakers, So
Speaker 1: shooting obviously was the big reason why they lost this
Speaker 1: particular game. I think they I think they missed at
Speaker 1: one point sixteen consecutive. The reason might even have been
Speaker 1: more than that. Some of it's just ad luck. Like
Speaker 1: three of their very best shooters, which is Patrick Beverley,
Speaker 1: who's a good catching shoot three point shooter, Kendrick Nunn
Speaker 1: who's a good catching shoot three point shooter, and Matt
Speaker 1: Ryan is a good shooter. Those three guys went one
Speaker 1: for fourteen from three. I'm pretty good looks. There are
Speaker 1: a couple of tough ones in there, particularly from Pat Beverly,
Speaker 1: that were more contested than usual, but most of the
Speaker 1: shots that they got were pretty good looks, and they
Speaker 1: went one for one for fourteen. So some of that's
Speaker 1: just bad shooting, but a lot of it is the
Speaker 1: fact that this is a Lakers team that's one of
Speaker 1: the worst shooting teams in the league. Like Russ went
Speaker 1: over two from three, I expect us to go over
Speaker 1: two from three, and I expect that to happen a lot.
Speaker 1: Lonnie Lonnie Walker went one for three from three. I
Speaker 1: expect that to happen a lot. He's kind of right
Speaker 1: around that range as a shooter. A d went over two,
Speaker 1: that's gonna happen a lot of nights. Dennis Shooter went
Speaker 1: over for one. That's gonna happen a lot of nights.
Speaker 1: It's it's a legitimate weakness on the roster, and there
Speaker 1: are going to be nights for the Lakers generate a
Speaker 1: lot of quality three point shots and they just don't
Speaker 1: knock them down because they're not a good shooting team.
Speaker 1: That is the biggest need on this roster. And it
Speaker 1: needs to be addressed. That and probably wing size, but
Speaker 1: more more than anything, that shooting has to be addressed,
Speaker 1: which brings me to Russ. And again, I'm gonna try
Speaker 1: to be quick because I always try to be quick
Speaker 1: with Russ. He didn't really look mentally present in this game.
Speaker 1: He was disengaged from the beginning. There's a weird moment
Speaker 1: where he skipped the pregame huddle. God knows what that
Speaker 1: was about. Patrick Beverley at one point tried to start
Speaker 1: a defensive huddle. They completely ignored him there. He made
Speaker 1: several defensive mistakes. He had several silly turnovers. He's straight
Speaker 1: up just stepped out of bounds in front of the
Speaker 1: Lakers bench twice. He took a couple of quick above
Speaker 1: the break threes, which above the break threes are literally
Speaker 1: his lowest percentage shot right now. He's actually a decent
Speaker 1: corner three point shooter, but he can't make anything above
Speaker 1: the break. But he he just can't get out of
Speaker 1: that like that, like that character trade, his basketball character
Speaker 1: trade of wanting to be aggressive as a pull up
Speaker 1: jump shooter even though we can't make them. So it
Speaker 1: was just a really rough game from Russ, and so
Speaker 1: then I just want to ask why, like, why are
Speaker 1: you subjecting your team to this? Yeah, we're gonna already
Speaker 1: record did the the The Redeem Team show that's gonna
Speaker 1: air tomorrow, and I'm gonna talk a lot about the
Speaker 1: concept of redundancy essentially, like you can't just quantify a
Speaker 1: basketball lineup by total talent. You have to look at
Speaker 1: the roles that a lineup has to fill on both
Speaker 1: ends of the floor and whether or not the players
Speaker 1: you have can cross those boxes. And right now, like
Speaker 1: I I, Russ is just a redundancy on this roster.
Speaker 1: They don't need the things that he does well, and
Speaker 1: he really struggles with the things that they actually need
Speaker 1: from him. And so with that redundancy, you've got this
Speaker 1: player that's tying up a spot in your rotation, tying
Speaker 1: up a bunch of minutes, and he's just not helping
Speaker 1: you win. And and that's that's going to be a
Speaker 1: problem as we get into this season. I think Russ
Speaker 1: would be happier elsewhere. I think the Lakers would be better.
Speaker 1: And if you combined him with picks, he can actually
Speaker 1: fetch you a couple of pieces that fix your flaws.
Speaker 1: Specifically shooting and wing size. And again, even if you're
Speaker 1: waiting for a better deal because you think Victor women
Speaker 1: Yama is gonna lead to taking and there's gonna be
Speaker 1: something out there, then you've got to find something. It's
Speaker 1: not either find find a small role for him or
Speaker 1: something where at least he won't do much to damage
Speaker 1: you in the meantime. To me, that's bring him off
Speaker 1: the bench, let him play two three shifts a game,
Speaker 1: you know, let let him just focus his energy on
Speaker 1: the dirty work in those possessions. But just like keeping
Speaker 1: him on the floor for thirty two minutes a night,
Speaker 1: with all of the things that he does that can
Speaker 1: hurt of basketball team, I think it's problematic. Um, the
Speaker 1: Lakers defense was pretty solid in the half court. They
Speaker 1: mainly got torched in transition just not running back on defense,
Speaker 1: which is fixable. I'm sure Darvin Hamm is screaming at
Speaker 1: them about that today. And then again, nas Reid is
Speaker 1: like the type of guy that's gonna punish this Lakers
Speaker 1: defensive scheme. Like we're gonna talk about it in a minute,
Speaker 1: but this Lakers scheme is really geared towards devoting attention
Speaker 1: to ball handlers and packing to paint, lots of strong
Speaker 1: side help. So if Anthony Davis is gonna camp by
Speaker 1: the rim and you're playing against a stretch big, he's
Speaker 1: gonna kill you. And as read killed him in this game.
Speaker 1: So this is the last time we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: the Lakers before the regular season starts on Tuesday. So
Speaker 1: I just wanted to kind of like enco absolute what
Speaker 1: I've seen from them so far. I think Darvin Ham
Speaker 1: has done a really nice job getting the Stars to
Speaker 1: buy back into the defensive end, particularly Lebron. I thought
Speaker 1: he had was rough in the first preseason game that
Speaker 1: but then he's been better since. He's also established a
Speaker 1: scheme that's worked for them. This is not going to
Speaker 1: be a great, uh you know, perimeter defense team that
Speaker 1: can do some switching and guard isolation. This is a
Speaker 1: team that's going to need to devote extra attention to
Speaker 1: the ball handler and extra attention to the paint. And
Speaker 1: that's what they've done at the expense of giving away
Speaker 1: wide open three point shots. But what they can do
Speaker 1: in that case is they can take away the easy
Speaker 1: shots at the rim that get guys going, and by
Speaker 1: pressuring ball handlers and offering lots of help at ball handlers.
Speaker 1: They have a good chance to get the other team's
Speaker 1: stars to have bad nights and just make them feel
Speaker 1: less than confident, less than comfortable on the basketball court.
Speaker 1: That will go a long way towards helping you, even
Speaker 1: if role players are sticking threes on the week side. Again,
Speaker 1: in order for them to be a top five defense,
Speaker 1: it's gonna take a lot from Lebron James and Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis on the back line, and a lot of health
Speaker 1: and a lot of Atrick Beverly, a lot of Dennis Schroeder,
Speaker 1: maybe even a trade in there for them to get
Speaker 1: to that point. It is on the table though, with
Speaker 1: how well they'll defend the three point or excuse me,
Speaker 1: how well they'll defend the ball handler and the paint um.
Speaker 1: Lebron and Anthony Davis both look completely outstanding. I think
Speaker 1: this is the best they've both looked since the bubble.
Speaker 1: Lebron more or less looks like Lebron. Anthony Davis hasn't
Speaker 1: been himself at all one or the year BEFO, so
Speaker 1: this is the best I've seen him look since the bubble.
Speaker 1: So that's a lot to get exciting about. But the
Speaker 1: problem is is this team is two solid role players
Speaker 1: away from being a legitimate title contender. So it's so
Speaker 1: much of the Lakers season comes down to can they
Speaker 1: find a legitimate rush trade, get it done, and get
Speaker 1: it done in time for them to build some continuity
Speaker 1: and figure out how to win with that particular group.
Speaker 1: But overall, if you're a Lakers fan, if you had
Speaker 1: a range of potential outcomes this preseason, this is about
Speaker 1: as good as you could have expected to this point.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, that's all I have for today. As always,
Speaker 1: I sincerely appreciate your support. Remember tomorrow we have the
Speaker 1: Redeemed Team episode coming out, and then I'll see you
Speaker 1: guys on Monday for our final season preview. The volume