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Speaker 1: to Hohop tonight. You're at the volume heavy Thursday. Everybody
Speaker 1: hope all you guys are having a great week so far.
Speaker 1: As of right now, we are twenty two minutes away.
Speaker 1: As of the time of me recording this, we are
Speaker 1: twenty two minutes away from the NBA trade deadline. We
Speaker 1: are going to have a full trade day deadline reaction
Speaker 1: breaking down all of the incredible deals from the last
Speaker 1: couple of days. I did want to take like ten
Speaker 1: to fifteen minutes right now to just talk about the
Speaker 1: Lakers getting Mark Williams. Do you guys are the joke?
Speaker 1: Before we started? Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channels.
Speaker 1: You don't miss any more of our videos following me
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Speaker 1: Facebook where you can follow us for content throughout the year,
Speaker 1: and then keep dropping mail back questions in the YouTube
Speaker 1: comments so that we can hit them on Fridays throughout
Speaker 1: the remainder of the season. So the Lakers get Mark Williams.
Speaker 1: Here are the details of the trade. Charlotte is getting
Speaker 1: Dalton Connect Cam Reddish. By the way, for your Hornets fans,
Speaker 1: Dalton Connect, you'll like him. Really good movement shooter. I
Speaker 1: think he hasn't shot the ball overly well this year,
Speaker 1: but his rotation minutes have been super inconsistent and he
Speaker 1: hasn't been very prominently featured in the offense. I think
Speaker 1: that Charlotte's going to give him much more of that
Speaker 1: kind of opportunity. The dude can shoot the ball. He's
Speaker 1: a complete mess on defense, and there's a bunch of
Speaker 1: stuff that has to get worked out there. But he's
Speaker 1: super young, and he's big, and he's athletic, so he
Speaker 1: should be able to, at least in the long run,
Speaker 1: become a serviceable defensive player who's a movement shooter, a
Speaker 1: guy who can run action, a transition weapon. You guys
Speaker 1: will like Dalton Connect. He just wasn't somebody that fit
Speaker 1: into the Lakers timeline. You guys, let you Laker fans
Speaker 1: who followed the show. You'll notice I didn't spend a
Speaker 1: ton of time talking about Dalton Connect and my big
Speaker 1: picture Lakers stuff this year because I just didn't think
Speaker 1: he was ready. It's no disrespect to Dalton. He's just
Speaker 1: a young player that needs to have some stuff worked out,
Speaker 1: and the Lakers aren't a more urgent timeline. So within Charlotte,
Speaker 1: I actually like Dalton Connect much more as a player
Speaker 1: that can develop into the high level offensive player that
Speaker 1: he can be on his own pace and learn how
Speaker 1: to play defense over time. Cam Reddish also is in
Speaker 1: the deal the Lakers twenty thirty one unprotected first round pick.
Speaker 1: Those twenty twenty nine to twenty thirty one first round
Speaker 1: picks were more valuable before Luca came to town, but
Speaker 1: still here in the year twenty twenty five, that's six
Speaker 1: years from now. A lot can change by then, So
Speaker 1: an unprotected Laker thirty one first round pick is a
Speaker 1: good piece of value, and they're getting a swap with
Speaker 1: the Lakes in twenty thirty so they can get the
Speaker 1: better of those two draft picks. The Lakers in the
Speaker 1: deal get Mark Williams. This is a move to go
Speaker 1: all in on offense. The Lakers could have gone several
Speaker 1: different directions with this center spot. They could have gotten
Speaker 1: like a big bruising guy, someone who's mostly unavailable, like
Speaker 1: a Walker Kessler, someone like a Yaka partle Yonis Malancun
Speaker 1: has ended up going to Sacramento, but like that kind
Speaker 1: of guy. You could get like a bigger, bodied, bruising center.
Speaker 1: You could get a defensive anchor, someone like Nick Claxton.
Speaker 1: This is the direction I thought they would go, considering
Speaker 1: just the reality of some of the limitations of Luka,
Speaker 1: Doncic and just Lebron being older and losing Anthony Davis
Speaker 1: and some of the stuff we've learned in NBA history
Speaker 1: about how your ability to protect the rim in the
Speaker 1: front court is such an important part of playoff defense.
Speaker 1: I thought that would be the direction they would go. Now.
Speaker 1: To be clear, I want to get a little further
Speaker 1: into the Lakers on defense later on in the show,
Speaker 1: because I do think the Lakers are going to be
Speaker 1: better defensively than people think. But we'll talk about that
Speaker 1: in a minute. They didn't go either of those directions,
Speaker 1: though they went with the dynamic screen and roll threat.
Speaker 1: They gave Luca and Lebron one of the best young
Speaker 1: screen and roll prospects in the NBA. This is the
Speaker 1: first part of Mark Williams that Lakers fans need to
Speaker 1: familiarize themselves with. He is just an awesome weapon in
Speaker 1: the screen and roll game. He sets good screens, he
Speaker 1: seeks out content, He makes good hard hits on people
Speaker 1: in screens. But he also has a good feel for
Speaker 1: one to slip out of screens when the action dictates that,
Speaker 1: when the when that's the read in that situation. He
Speaker 1: has absolute magnet hands, catches everything in traffic doesn't turn
Speaker 1: the ball over very much. For a center, he provides
Speaker 1: a huge vertical spacing window, which is just a vital
Speaker 1: part of what Luca and Lebron do in Pick and Roll.
Speaker 1: I talked about this a lot, but there's like a
Speaker 1: there's like a progression in ball screens. I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: a full breakdown of it in a minute, and one
Speaker 1: of those important reads in that progression is that vertical
Speaker 1: spacing window in the lot like a lob as you're
Speaker 1: coming downhill in the ball screens, and Mark Williams just
Speaker 1: perfectly fits into that. Into that mold, He's got like
Speaker 1: a super high stain reach. I think it's like nine
Speaker 1: feet nine inches, and change just gets. But he also
Speaker 1: can catch everything. It's not just dunks either, Like if
Speaker 1: it's a little bit of a bad pass, he can
Speaker 1: kind of guide it into the basket at a really
Speaker 1: high level. No matter what you want to talk about
Speaker 1: with Mark Williams, even when you started to get into
Speaker 1: his defensive limitations, which we'll talk about in a minute,
Speaker 1: the dude is an incredible offensive weapon and he's going
Speaker 1: to make life easier for the Lakers on the offensive end.
Speaker 1: So let's zoom in on that for a minute. We'll
Speaker 1: get to the defensive stuff in a little bit. If
Speaker 1: your goal was to make the Lakers completely unguardable on offense,
Speaker 1: this was the kind of move you had to make
Speaker 1: because in order for a Luca or Lebron led offense
Speaker 1: to be unguardable, you need several things. I have four
Speaker 1: things on this list. One, ideally you need a legit
Speaker 1: number two so that Luca or Lebron don't have to
Speaker 1: do everything, so they don't wear down over the course
Speaker 1: of games and overseasons. While I'd argue Lebron and Luca
Speaker 1: together compliment each other in that way, giving each other
Speaker 1: the ability to rest, take it easy when the other
Speaker 1: is on the floor and they need a break. And
Speaker 1: with Austin they have plenty of depth in that regard.
Speaker 1: I'd argue they're the best shot creation trio in the
Speaker 1: entire NBA right now, when you get down to it,
Speaker 1: to Austin for weeks now has been like twenty points
Speaker 1: per game on fifty to forty ninety. That's what you're
Speaker 1: complimenting Lebron and Luca with. Secondly, you need a legit
Speaker 1: vertical spacing threat, a dynamic above the rim, kind of
Speaker 1: thing that the defense has to account for. Here's why
Speaker 1: the vast majority of teams are going to guard Lebron
Speaker 1: and Luca up at the level because they don't want
Speaker 1: to let them get downhill. Even when they don't, the
Speaker 1: role man is going to have to excuse me, the
Speaker 1: screen defender, the guy guarding Mark Williams is going to
Speaker 1: have to come up to at least account for Lebron
Speaker 1: and Luca as scores. You guys have all seen it before.
Speaker 1: If you let Luca have the defender chase him over
Speaker 1: the top of the screen and he could pin him
Speaker 1: on his backside, and if you let him just methodically
Speaker 1: roll down the lane, he's gonna get to one of
Speaker 1: those little five to seven foot push shots that he
Speaker 1: just never misses. Right. So, like you have to account
Speaker 1: for Luca on the role, and Lebron is like the
Speaker 1: downhill threat. If you let Mark Williams screen for Lebron
Speaker 1: and you let Lebron go screaming down, he's going to
Speaker 1: break your defense down. So you have to account for
Speaker 1: Lebron by meeting him, meeting him up high so that
Speaker 1: he doesn't get ahead of steam. You need Lebron to
Speaker 1: come off of those ball screens slowly right, And the
Speaker 1: only way you're going to do that is by bringing
Speaker 1: a big up to the level so Lebron doesn't see
Speaker 1: a runway to go downhill. Right. So in those two situations,
Speaker 1: if the screen defender has to account for Luca, if
Speaker 1: Mark Williams defender has to account for Luca, if Mark Williams'
Speaker 1: defender has to account for Lebron, Now Mark Williams is
Speaker 1: open rolling to the basket in that lob window, right,
Speaker 1: how do teams account for that? They account for that
Speaker 1: by bringing a guy over from the weak side to
Speaker 1: tag the roller, right. But the only way they're going
Speaker 1: to do that, the only way they're going to account
Speaker 1: for that role man, is if they view him as
Speaker 1: a real vertical spacing threat. So that's the second most
Speaker 1: important part to making a Lebron or Luca led offense unguardable.
Speaker 1: You've got to have depth of shot creation. You've got
Speaker 1: to have a vertical spacing threat so that you can
Speaker 1: throw the lob when the screen defender comes up. Thirdly,
Speaker 1: you need to have guys who can finish plays by
Speaker 1: capitalizing on the advantages that are created as the defense
Speaker 1: shades towards Lebron and Luca and towards Mark Williams. Right,
Speaker 1: So imagine we have a guy who's guarding Ruey hatchra
Speaker 1: Mura in the weak side corner. That guy is going
Speaker 1: to come over and basically box out Mark Williams so
Speaker 1: that he can't roll to the rim for a dunk,
Speaker 1: for that easy lob dunk. Right, this is where those
Speaker 1: skip passes are open. Two of the best passers in
Speaker 1: the history of the NBA in ball screens to that
Speaker 1: skip to the corner are Luca and Lebron. You have
Speaker 1: to have guys that can score the basketball on the
Speaker 1: weak side of the floor, and this team will constantly
Speaker 1: have when Luca has the ball, Lebron off the ball,
Speaker 1: Austin reeves off the ball, during Finney Smith, who's knocked
Speaker 1: down three point shooter off the ball, Ruey Hatchimura a
Speaker 1: guy who can score the basketball. Even Gabe can both
Speaker 1: hit shots, but can put the ball on the floor
Speaker 1: and make extra moves in the mid range score in
Speaker 1: close out situations. Right, Like when you play playoff defense,
Speaker 1: a really good playoff defense, it's not a lot of
Speaker 1: catch and shoot jump shots. It's not a lot of
Speaker 1: easy stuff at the rim, it's a lot more of
Speaker 1: like you get an advantage, this guy has to score.
Speaker 1: This guy might have to put the ball on the
Speaker 1: floor and hit a mid range jumper. This guy might
Speaker 1: have to put the ball on the floor and make
Speaker 1: that next read to further break down the defense. This
Speaker 1: is a strength on this roster. Now, the Lakers always
Speaker 1: had these guys that can do a little bit more offensively,
Speaker 1: guys like Austin, guys like Rui, guys like Gabe, but
Speaker 1: they couldn't create good enough advantages for them consistently. Now,
Speaker 1: because Lebron is slotted as your second best shot creator,
Speaker 1: because Austin is slotted as your third best shot creator,
Speaker 1: because you have the lob threat, the legitimate lob threat
Speaker 1: that Mark Williams brings to the table, you are going
Speaker 1: to provide guys like Ruy, guys like Austin, Guys like Lebron,
Speaker 1: even Luca when he's off the ball, Guys like Gabe.
Speaker 1: You're going to be providing them really high quality advantage
Speaker 1: situations as defenses have to account for more Mark Williams
Speaker 1: on the roll, and if they don't, if that Loman
Speaker 1: doesn't come over, if they stay glued up to Ruey, Austin, Lebron,
Speaker 1: whoever it is on the weak side, Mark Williams is
Speaker 1: gonna get a dunk every single time down the floor.
Speaker 1: It like every team in the NBA is going to
Speaker 1: have to make a decision with how to guard the Lakers,
Speaker 1: because that's the last piece. If first it's depth of
Speaker 1: chock creation, second a vertical spacing thread, third week side scoring.
Speaker 1: The last thing is what if they switch? If they switch,
Speaker 1: you gotta have guys who can beat a switching defense,
Speaker 1: and Luca just puts you into much better position to
Speaker 1: handle that type of defensive look. You will have more
Speaker 1: favorable matchups all over the floor as defenses have to
Speaker 1: account for Luca. What decision are you gonna make as
Speaker 1: a defense guard in the Lakers? Do you want to
Speaker 1: let Lebron and Luca just pick on your weakest defender
Speaker 1: and switches. That's probably not gonna go. Well, do you
Speaker 1: want to let Lebron and Luca get downhill in ball
Speaker 1: screens and pick you apart. That's probably not gonna work. Okay,
Speaker 1: So then you're gonna have to come up to the
Speaker 1: level that's gonna open those skip passes and lob passes
Speaker 1: or you're gonna have to double when they're picking on switches,
Speaker 1: which is just gonna lead to more of those advantages
Speaker 1: which the Lakers have guys to capitalize on. I think
Speaker 1: this team has the potential to be the most resilient
Speaker 1: playoff offense in the NBA, aside from maybe the Nikola
Speaker 1: Jokich Denver Nuggets. I think they're on that tier now. Jokic,
Speaker 1: I think is the best tight space playoff shot creator
Speaker 1: in the NBA. But Luca is right there at number two,
Speaker 1: and they have Lebron James, and they have Austin Reeves
Speaker 1: and so like, I don't even want to overthink things.
Speaker 1: This team is going to score the basketball. But let's
Speaker 1: talk about defense. Mark Williams is flat lee not a
Speaker 1: good defensive player right now. He produces statistically, he's very
Speaker 1: good rebounder. We'll talk about that in a Minute's important
Speaker 1: part of defense. He does block a good amount of shots.
Speaker 1: He blocks one point seven shots for thirty six minutes,
Speaker 1: which is not bad. It's not great for a guy
Speaker 1: his size, but it's not terrible. But he's not particularly
Speaker 1: good at anything on defense. He has really bad technique
Speaker 1: on the perimeter, does a lot of opening his stance,
Speaker 1: so like try to contest shots by going sideways, which
Speaker 1: just leaves his stance open so guys can drive by.
Speaker 1: He leaves his feet on ball fakes and gets out
Speaker 1: of position really really bad on the perimeter. So Charlotte
Speaker 1: tried to account for this by just exclusively using Mark
Speaker 1: Williams in like a super deep drop coverage, meaning like
Speaker 1: as the ball screen was taking place, he would just
Speaker 1: sit back in the paint and try to keep him
Speaker 1: around the rim. And he does have some value there again,
Speaker 1: like he's a great defensive rebounder. This is a Laker
Speaker 1: team that has struggled to rebound at times this year.
Speaker 1: He has good length, He's going to be an asset
Speaker 1: down there. But even around the rim, he goes for ballfakes,
Speaker 1: he gets out of position. He's not a good defensive
Speaker 1: player right now. So, like, whether or not Mark Williams
Speaker 1: can be a high level rotation piece for the Lakers
Speaker 1: will come down to JJ Reddick's ability to find a
Speaker 1: way to make Mark useful on the defensive end of
Speaker 1: the floor. But I just think when we're having that conversation,
Speaker 1: we have to at least acknowledge what he brings on
Speaker 1: the offensive end. And that's why I actually look at
Speaker 1: this trade as more of a way just to give
Speaker 1: the Lakers a different configuration that they can go to.
Speaker 1: We saw this look really good playing small balls in
Speaker 1: the last week without Anthony Davis. They did have Max
Speaker 1: Christy in the next game, but they didn't have Max
Speaker 1: Christi in the Clippers game. Against the Clippers and against
Speaker 1: the Knicks, they executed their small ball looks really well.
Speaker 1: A lot of like Lebron Ruey van Do Dorian Finney Smith.
Speaker 1: Just these big rangey six 's eight six ' nine,
Speaker 1: big strong forwards all over the floor that are switching
Speaker 1: and swarming around and rebounding and doing all the things
Speaker 1: they knew to do need to do that. John I
Speaker 1: talked a lot early in the season about how like
Speaker 1: JJ Reddicks switching scheme can work, the Lakers just weren't
Speaker 1: doing it well. They they've been doing it in the
Speaker 1: last week. I actually think this team will have small
Speaker 1: ball looks that can defend. There's a lot of talk
Speaker 1: about like, how are the Lakers going to get any stops.
Speaker 1: They've been getting stops with the same guys over the
Speaker 1: course of the last week. I don't think the Mark
Speaker 1: Williams looks are with like the lineups with Mark Williams
Speaker 1: and Luke on the floor are going to struggle to guard.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be a problem, but they're also going to
Speaker 1: score really, really well. There are good defenders in rotation.
Speaker 1: Lebron James when he's engaged in the last week, has
Speaker 1: been an excellent defender. Dawren Phinney Smith good defender, Jared
Speaker 1: Vanderbilt excellent defender, gave Vincent good defender. They have good
Speaker 1: defensive players in this rotation, and I just kind of
Speaker 1: see them having these different configurations. I think they'll have
Speaker 1: small ball looks primarily anchored by Lebron, where it's Lebron
Speaker 1: in a bunch of forwards and they're guarding and they're
Speaker 1: doing everything that they did against the Clippers and the Knicks,
Speaker 1: and then they'll have these other looks, especially like Luca
Speaker 1: on the floor Lebron off, where it's like, hey, let's
Speaker 1: just try to outscore teams. It's gonna be Luca, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be you know, Austin, It's gonna be Mark Williams,
Speaker 1: it might be Ruy Hatchamura in that look, and maybe
Speaker 1: Jared Vanderbilt to guard the other team's best player or
Speaker 1: something like that. They're gonna have looks for all of
Speaker 1: these different parts of the game, and you're right, like,
Speaker 1: there might be a time when it's like, oh shit,
Speaker 1: we can't play Mark Williams against these guys. He's getting
Speaker 1: absolutely fried on defense. They can go to small ball looks.
Speaker 1: They have the personnel for that now because instead of
Speaker 1: having a bunch of small guys, they've got six or
Speaker 1: seven dudes that are between six ' eight and six '
Speaker 1: nine and two hundred and forty pounds plus, Like, they
Speaker 1: just have a lot of bodies to be able to
Speaker 1: defend in small ball looks, to be able to rebound
Speaker 1: in small ball looks in a way that they didn't
Speaker 1: earlier in the season because of bringing in Dorian Finney
Speaker 1: Smith because of the health of Jared Vanderbilt. I think
Speaker 1: having multiple looks is a good thing. The main concern
Speaker 1: that I have is like, are they going to be
Speaker 1: able to hang with like a team like Denver And
Speaker 1: that's where it's gonna get tricky. Do they need to
Speaker 1: get in the next seven minutes here? Do they need
Speaker 1: to try to get a bigger center that can bang
Speaker 1: with Jokic? A little bit and give them at least
Speaker 1: a little bit more matchup or versatility in that regard.
Speaker 1: But as I look out from the Mark Williams thing,
Speaker 1: this team has the potential to be the most unguardable
Speaker 1: playoff offense in the NBA. But they're going to have
Speaker 1: defensive holes that they have to fill. Let's just acknowledge
Speaker 1: that they have more good defensive personnel than I think
Speaker 1: the public opinion would lead you to believe at this point.
Speaker 1: The Cleveland Cavaliers get DeAndre Hunter in the arms race
Speaker 1: in the Eastern Conference. Details on the trade. The Calves
Speaker 1: get DeAndre Hunter, the Hawks get Karis Lavert, Georgia Niang,
Speaker 1: three second round picks and two swaps. I love this
Speaker 1: deal for the Cavs. The Calves had hit a little
Speaker 1: bit of an offensive low. They're eight and six in
Speaker 1: their last fourteen games, and there have been games where
Speaker 1: the offense looks great, but in the six losses they
Speaker 1: only logged an offensive rating of one hundred and thirteen
Speaker 1: and cooled off a little bit from three. They were
Speaker 1: only thirty four point five percent on catch and shoot
Speaker 1: threes in those six losses. DeAndre Hunter represents two value
Speaker 1: adds for the calves offense. First of all, he's just
Speaker 1: a knockdown catch and shoot guy. Shoots forty five percent
Speaker 1: on unguarded catch and shoot threes, so that will help
Speaker 1: in that specific regard. But he's also just an overall
Speaker 1: talent ad on the offensive side of the ball. You
Speaker 1: can shoot off the dribble really well. Shoots forty six
Speaker 1: percent field goal percentage on pull up jump shots. When
Speaker 1: you wait for threes, it comes down to one point
Speaker 1: zero seven points per shot. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: out of the ninety three players in the NBA this
Speaker 1: year that have attempted at least one hundred pull up
Speaker 1: jump shots, DeAndre Hunter ranks eleventh out of ninety three
Speaker 1: in efficiency. So I got a little bit of off
Speaker 1: the dribble pop. He has a decent floater that he
Speaker 1: hits at about forty two percent, and he's just got
Speaker 1: some real scoring chops. He's run one hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: three pick and rolls, ISOs and post ups this year
Speaker 1: right at about a point per possession, especially good shooting
Speaker 1: out of ball screens as the handler. And so what
Speaker 1: I think about when I look at this deal is
Speaker 1: the reality of breaking down playoff defense. Is this is
Speaker 1: a concept I've talked about a lot over the course
Speaker 1: of the last few years, which is like, during the
Speaker 1: regular season, you're gonna get a lot of wide open
Speaker 1: catch and shoot threes, You're gonna get a lot of
Speaker 1: layups things like that out of defensive breakdowns. But then
Speaker 1: what ends up happening inevitably is you get into a
Speaker 1: playoff series, the intensity and the quality of the opponents
Speaker 1: you're playing goes up, and you're not getting those super
Speaker 1: easy trainsansition opportunities as often. The defensive breakdowns aren't happening
Speaker 1: nearly as often the rotations are super sharp, the game
Speaker 1: planning is so intense. The best you can hope for
Speaker 1: a lot of the times is a little bit of
Speaker 1: an advantage on the other side of the floor, Like
Speaker 1: maybe we can get this skip passed because they load
Speaker 1: up on the ball screen on Garland or Mitchell or
Speaker 1: wherever it is, and they're loading up on the roll man,
Speaker 1: and we wit the cross pass across the court, and
Speaker 1: we can get a guy a chance to catch with
Speaker 1: a defender sprinting at him, a good elite playoff defender
Speaker 1: sprinting at him. And that's where it helps to have
Speaker 1: scoring chops off the ball, and the Cavs do have
Speaker 1: a lot of guys that can shoot, that can knock
Speaker 1: down catch and shoot threes. But DeAndre Hunter is a
Speaker 1: guy that brings just another layer to those advantage creation
Speaker 1: situations where he's gonna be able to hit some of
Speaker 1: the playoff shots. He's gonna be able to do more
Speaker 1: off the bounce on the skip than a guy like
Speaker 1: Dean Wade. He's gonna be able to do more off
Speaker 1: the bounce off the skip than a guy like George's
Speaker 1: Niang was able to do. Right, And so it's just
Speaker 1: a talent ad. It gives them another guy that a
Speaker 1: lot that with more offensive firepower to break down playoff defenses.
Speaker 1: I was literally talking about this on the the I
Speaker 1: appeared briefly on the Athletics Big Trade Deadline special today
Speaker 1: and I was talking about it there, like your aggregate
Speaker 1: ball handling, your aggregate skill, your aggregate shooting ability, your
Speaker 1: aggregates scoring chops. I always talking about scoring as a
Speaker 1: separate category from shooting, because scoring to me is about
Speaker 1: like audacity and confidence, the willingness to take tougher shots
Speaker 1: and then having like the creativity, the footwork and the
Speaker 1: dribble combinations and the tweaking your release angles and shooting
Speaker 1: with a little more arc, a little less arc, whatever
Speaker 1: it is you need to do to make a bucket
Speaker 1: happen in kind of a weird fluid situation that's not
Speaker 1: like just you standing still or doing some sort of
Speaker 1: basic drill. That's scoring in my opinion, and so aggregate scoring,
Speaker 1: aggregate shooting, aggregate passing, those things matter more now than
Speaker 1: they used to because of the way defenses have gotten
Speaker 1: so good at loading up on the strong side, taking
Speaker 1: the ball out of your primary ball handler's hands. So
Speaker 1: to me, DeAndre Hunter is just an influx of talent
Speaker 1: that gives them a better chance to survive as things
Speaker 1: get tougher in the postseason. He also gives them more
Speaker 1: size on the perimeter, which will help them match physicality
Speaker 1: with teams like Boston. That's really what this was to me.
Speaker 1: They're trying to close the talent gap with Boston as
Speaker 1: much as they can, and this was a big step
Speaker 1: in that direction. I like Niang, he did some stuff,
Speaker 1: but DeAndre Hunter's just better. And the emergence of Ty
Speaker 1: Jerome as one of the best backup guards in the
Speaker 1: league made Karris Lavert a little bit redundant, and I
Speaker 1: like Harris, and I thought he had some value, especially
Speaker 1: like I thought he was the best calves defender on
Speaker 1: shake yos as Alexander in the matchups that they had,
Speaker 1: And so yeah, if they got to the finals, that
Speaker 1: could be something that is a little bit of an issue.
Speaker 1: But it's just such a small little bit of utility
Speaker 1: in the big picture that actually think this was a
Speaker 1: smart trade. Cleveland is approaching this season with some real urgency,
Speaker 1: and I like it. They have a five game lead
Speaker 1: on the Boston Celtics. If they can maintain that, they'll
Speaker 1: have home court advantage in the conference finals and they'll
Speaker 1: have their chance to eliminate the Celtics. The second trade
Speaker 1: we're getting today dearon Fox, to the San Antonio Spurs.
Speaker 1: I've been asking for this trade ever since Sacramento got
Speaker 1: off to such a terrible start this season. This is
Speaker 1: like the half dozen time we've talked about it, so
Speaker 1: I won't go two into detail, but I've been hung
Speaker 1: up on this specific concept, which is that San Antonio
Speaker 1: has a lot of young, developing talent, but that one
Speaker 1: of those guys is just so far ahead of his
Speaker 1: teammates in that development trajectory that you can't afford to
Speaker 1: just let them slowly grow together. By this time next year,
Speaker 1: Victor Weman Yama will probably be a consensus top six
Speaker 1: player in the NBA Jokich, Luca, Jannis, Shay Tatum, and
Speaker 1: Victor some order, and some folks might even add Victor
Speaker 1: higher than six. When the time comes and you can't
Speaker 1: just let a hyper competitive, super talented dude who's one
Speaker 1: of the top six basketball players in the world just
Speaker 1: sit around and wait for his young teammates to slowly improve.
Speaker 1: I thought Deeron Fox was the perfect player to address
Speaker 1: that conundrum three reasons. One, he's older than Wemby, but
Speaker 1: he's just starting his prime. I think he has at
Speaker 1: least five years left playing at the level that he's
Speaker 1: currently at. That is a good long window to justify
Speaker 1: this type of investment. Two, he's legitimately good enough to
Speaker 1: be Wemby's number two. I had Darren Fox in my
Speaker 1: top twenty five this summer. I think his combination of
Speaker 1: downhill speed and over the top scoring ability. And again,
Speaker 1: he hasn't shot as well from the perimeter this year,
Speaker 1: but he's got such good short range shot making ability
Speaker 1: to short lean back jumpers, floaters, things along those lines.
Speaker 1: It's just such a devastating combo to be able to
Speaker 1: be a real threat downhill, but to always be able
Speaker 1: to stop on a dime and shoot over the top.
Speaker 1: It's just a devastating combo. There are a lot of
Speaker 1: fast guys in the NBA. There are a lot of
Speaker 1: guys who can make shots. There are very few that
Speaker 1: can do both at an extremely high level. And even
Speaker 1: with his shooting being down a bit this year, he's
Speaker 1: still over forty percent on pull up jump shots. He's
Speaker 1: still over fifty percent on floaters on high volume, and
Speaker 1: he logs in terms of the downhill ability. He logs
Speaker 1: the same of drives per game as jam Morant to
Speaker 1: give you guys some perspective on how much deeron Fox
Speaker 1: can get downhill. Which brings me to the third reason
Speaker 1: that I liked deeron Fox for the Spurs. The basketball
Speaker 1: fit is utterly perfect. The ideal fit for a pick
Speaker 1: and pop big is a downhill guard. Wemby obviously does
Speaker 1: a lot on ball for the Spurs. They'll run action
Speaker 1: for him around the foul line where he'll catch and
Speaker 1: turn and face you know, eighteen twenty feet from the basket,
Speaker 1: ISO that kind of stuff. But when he's operating as
Speaker 1: a screener in action, he's almost always popping out to
Speaker 1: the perimeter, right like, that's what he does. He's a
Speaker 1: pick and pop big in terms of his utility in
Speaker 1: the flow of the offense. The reason why a downhill
Speaker 1: guard is so valuable with the pick and pop big
Speaker 1: has to do with the way that speed can break
Speaker 1: down traditional ballscreen coverages for starters. You can't switch right
Speaker 1: like if you switch with a downhill guard and a
Speaker 1: guy like Wemby. The best thing that you can do
Speaker 1: when you're a big switching out onto the perimeter onto
Speaker 1: a guard is to force him to settle for a
Speaker 1: jump shot. And there are a lot lot of skill
Speaker 1: guards in the league that will get bigs on switches,
Speaker 1: and they'll settle for jump shots, and don't get me wrong,
Speaker 1: sometimes they go in. But there's a good amount of
Speaker 1: variants there. The death sentence for a big on a
Speaker 1: switch is speed, because they really struggle to move laterally
Speaker 1: and contain the ball. Deeron Fox can beat biggs off
Speaker 1: the dribble for much more reliable offense. Beating switches so
Speaker 1: that's a bad idea, and putting a small guard on
Speaker 1: a shot maker like Victor women Yama is not not
Speaker 1: a good idea either. Right now, let's take a look
Speaker 1: at a traditional coverage, meaning the defense does not switch
Speaker 1: if you use the screeners man, so Victor's man to
Speaker 1: contain the ball, which you have to right because if
Speaker 1: you're not switching and Wemby sets a pick on the
Speaker 1: guy guarding Daron Fox and Wemby's man doesn't help at all.
Speaker 1: Deer's going right downhill. He's flying downhill in your defense, bricks,
Speaker 1: So you got to have that screen defender there to
Speaker 1: contain the ball. Right. But here's the problem. As Victor
Speaker 1: pops above the break, that defender who's containing the ball
Speaker 1: now a closeout. He's got to close out from where
Speaker 1: the ball handler is all the way back out to
Speaker 1: Wemby where he's popping. This is where the downhill element
Speaker 1: of Daron Fox's game is so valuable. The longer that
Speaker 1: closeout is for that screen defender to get back to Wemby,
Speaker 1: the better opportunities that Wenby's gonna get. Right. The more
Speaker 1: athletic the guard is, the further he gets downhill, the
Speaker 1: more it forces the entire defense to drop back to
Speaker 1: contain the even longer that closeout's going to be. Right,
Speaker 1: A skill guard who kind of meanders off the ball
Speaker 1: screen and pitches it back to Wemby might only be
Speaker 1: a ten to fifteen foot closeout. But if Dearon Fox
Speaker 1: comes screaming down that ball screen and the guy's meeting
Speaker 1: him more by the semi circle instead of up by
Speaker 1: the top of the key, as an extra ten feet
Speaker 1: that the big guy has to close out. And so
Speaker 1: I just imagine like just a ton of these really
Speaker 1: really open looks and high advantage situations for in a
Speaker 1: wide open top of the key type of situation, I
Speaker 1: just think I think it's just a perfect fundamental basketball
Speaker 1: fit in two man game to have a guy like
Speaker 1: Victor Weminyama that can pick and pop with a devastating
Speaker 1: downhill guard like Deeron Fox, and he's also a very
Speaker 1: complimentary defensive fit. I've talked about this a lot over
Speaker 1: the course of the season. Fox is an attacking, aggressive,
Speaker 1: disrupt the ball type of perimeter defender rather than the
Speaker 1: sit back and contain the ball type of perimeter defender.
Speaker 1: Containing is most important when you don't have strong rim protection.
Speaker 1: Attacking can actually be really useful with strong rim protection
Speaker 1: because ball pressure usually forces the ball handler to speed up.
Speaker 1: It forces them to drive, because that's how you beat
Speaker 1: ball pressure. You beat ball pressure by driving. If you
Speaker 1: try to retreat, they're just going to keep pressuring you
Speaker 1: until you lose control of the basketball. You attack ball pressure,
Speaker 1: and so in those situations where you force them to
Speaker 1: drive and you pressure well and you rush them, they
Speaker 1: go downhill without a plan, and that's where mistakes can happen.
Speaker 1: Cleaning up that type of dribble penetration is a thing
Speaker 1: that Wemby's better at than literally anyone that's ever played
Speaker 1: the game of basketball. So like I viewed as a
Speaker 1: really complimentary defensive fit as well. So you've got a
Speaker 1: player who won is good enough to help Wemby compete
Speaker 1: for championships right away, but is also young enough to
Speaker 1: fit the longer term Wemby timeline, while also being the
Speaker 1: perfect basketball fit on both ends of the floor. And
Speaker 1: you did it without having to give up any of
Speaker 1: your most exciting young players. I think it's an absolute
Speaker 1: home run move for the Spurs. That's why I've been
Speaker 1: pushing for it all season. I haven't watched their debut.
Speaker 1: I think they played for the first time together last night.
Speaker 1: I've been so focused on the deadline, haven't had a
Speaker 1: chance to watch it yet. But super super for all
Speaker 1: these guys, by the way, Super excited to dive into
Speaker 1: in the next couple of weeks the basketball of these
Speaker 1: dudes playing on their new teams. That's why I got
Speaker 1: to come back to hoops tonight. On the daily basis,
Speaker 1: we do a lot of game breakdowns in the mornings
Speaker 1: after these games. Zach Levine to the Sacramento Kings. I
Speaker 1: really like Zach Levine, but I think this was probably
Speaker 1: by far the most boring place for him to end up. Like.
Speaker 1: Zach's really good. He's athletic, can get to the rim
Speaker 1: and jump shooter with real scoring chops. He can create
Speaker 1: shots for himself out of many different types of footwork,
Speaker 1: dribble combinations. He's bucket getter. He's got solid playmaking chops.
Speaker 1: He's been an efficient shot creator in every play type
Speaker 1: this year. And he's healthier than you would think. His
Speaker 1: reputation is that he's never healthy. He had a really
Speaker 1: bad year last year, but he played like seventy seven
Speaker 1: games the year before but it's boring because we already
Speaker 1: know what it looks like. We've literally seen a team
Speaker 1: led by Demarta Rozen and Zack Lavine as their two
Speaker 1: primary shot creators. I talked about this, but two years ago,
Speaker 1: the Bulls had a year where de Levigne, Derozen, and
Speaker 1: Vucevich were healthy all year long, and they were bad.
Speaker 1: If I remember correctly, the starters had a negative net
Speaker 1: rating even though they had super fortunate health that year.
Speaker 1: We've seen what this looks like looks like now. I
Speaker 1: know that Demonia Sabonis is a much better player than
Speaker 1: Nicola Vusovich and that they have him Malik Monk. I
Speaker 1: know it's not a perfect comparison, but it's also a
Speaker 1: tougher conference at West. But at the very least, we
Speaker 1: do know that Demarta Rozen and zach Levine is not
Speaker 1: enough offense to be a truly elite game break offense.
Speaker 1: And we also know that this King's team is never
Speaker 1: going to overwhelm teams with defense, not with the lineups
Speaker 1: build around some bonus zach Lavine and DeMar DeRozan. You're
Speaker 1: not so like. I don't need to see much or
Speaker 1: to overthink this to know that the Kings just continued
Speaker 1: to maintain their mediocrity. This felt to me like the
Speaker 1: Kings just trying to remain relevant while also acquiescing to
Speaker 1: darn Fox trade demand. And they'll be fun. The Kings
Speaker 1: will go on some win streaks on some nights, they'll
Speaker 1: look really good on offense, and they'll beat really good teams,
Speaker 1: but they are going to accomplish anything of significance. And
Speaker 1: that's why I thought this was the most boring destination
Speaker 1: for Zach Lavine. The Milwaukee Bucks get Kevin Porter, Junior,
Speaker 1: Jericho Simms, and Kyle Kuzma for Marjon Bouchamp, Chris Middleton,
Speaker 1: AJ Johnson and a pick swap, and I think the
Speaker 1: Bucks also might have gotten a second round pick back
Speaker 1: in that deal as well, if I remember correctly. I
Speaker 1: saw a lot of negativity surrounding this trade from Bucks fans,
Speaker 1: and I get it to a certain extent. Like Chris,
Speaker 1: when he's at his best, is a better basketball player
Speaker 1: than Kyle Kuzma. But Chris Middleton hasn't shown his top
Speaker 1: end in a long time. His ball handling has been
Speaker 1: valuable to the Bucks this year in the half court.
Speaker 1: He's been able to create advantages and just kind of
Speaker 1: grease the wheels for them in their offense. But he's
Speaker 1: been back for twenty three games and he's averaging twelve
Speaker 1: points six points per game. This is not the same
Speaker 1: twenty point per game Chris Middleton anymore. He had a
Speaker 1: couple twenty point games in the last couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: but they were in like losses where the team didn't
Speaker 1: look good or I think he had won in Utah
Speaker 1: as well. Like, this is not the same Chris Middleton
Speaker 1: that was such an important part of the championship team
Speaker 1: a few years ago. Now, whether or not this trade
Speaker 1: makes any sense will come down to what Kyle Kuzma
Speaker 1: turns into. The Bucks need to be able to convert
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma back into their winning culture because he's been
Speaker 1: playing losing basketball down in Washington for a few years now.
Speaker 1: And Kyle Kuzma's last year with the Lakers before his
Speaker 1: trade to Washington, he had actually turned himself into a
Speaker 1: really good role player. First of all, he's a very
Speaker 1: good rebounder. Towards the end with the Lakers in the
Speaker 1: last year or two, he had become so good off ball, playing,
Speaker 1: passing lanes, rotating and just being such a good defensive
Speaker 1: rebounder that he actually had turned himself into a really
Speaker 1: useful role player. The key will be bringing that out
Speaker 1: of him. Again, that's on Yannis, that's on Brook, that's
Speaker 1: on Doc Rivers Dame and all the leaders of that
Speaker 1: team to refocus Kyle Kuzma's energy in the directions that
Speaker 1: made him such a useful player for the Lakers towards
Speaker 1: the end. He's got good size, he is a good athlete.
Speaker 1: He can win contested rebound battles, he can fly around
Speaker 1: in rotation and play passing lanes. He's big, Like this
Speaker 1: is a size move for Milwaukee. That Kuzma yanis Brook
Speaker 1: Lopez front line is just way more physically imposing than
Speaker 1: a like even then a Bobby portis like too big
Speaker 1: kind of look because Bobby doesn't move as well as
Speaker 1: Kyle Kuzma does. But like certainly like Torrian Prince is
Speaker 1: a bad rebounder, like this is a big his eyes, athleticism,
Speaker 1: off ball defense and rebounding upgrade for the Bucks if
Speaker 1: they can bring that back out of Kyle Kusma, which
Speaker 1: again that's the big kind of variable here, right And
Speaker 1: then on offense, Kuzma's an interesting case study in how
Speaker 1: little efficiency actually matters relative to your reputation in the league.
Speaker 1: Like Kyle Kuzma's an inefficient offensive player. His best shooting
Speaker 1: year was actually his last year with the Lakers, and
Speaker 1: he only shot thirty six percent. He's a career fifty
Speaker 1: four percent in true shooting, which is nothing to celebrate.
Speaker 1: But he is constantly aggressive. It's actually funny how aggressive
Speaker 1: he is. He's a career seventeen field goal attempts per
Speaker 1: thirty six minutes in his career. Even his last year
Speaker 1: in LA, when he was in his smallest role there,
Speaker 1: he still took fourteen shots per thirty six minutes. This
Speaker 1: is an aggressive score. He averages seven three point attempts
Speaker 1: per thirty six minutes in his career. He shoots so much,
Speaker 1: and he always he has this threat that he might
Speaker 1: go off. Like Obviously he's been more of a scoring
Speaker 1: role with Washington, but even going back to the Lakers,
Speaker 1: any giving night he could go for twenty. Any given
Speaker 1: night he could go for thirty. The threat was there.
Speaker 1: He has ninety seven career games with over twenty five points.
Speaker 1: He has eleven career games with over thirty five points.
Speaker 1: This has led to and this stood out to me
Speaker 1: in such an interesting way when he was with the Lakers.
Speaker 1: This led to teams accounting for him on the scouting
Speaker 1: report the same way you would for a more efficient scorer.
Speaker 1: The way he's guarded is like that of a more
Speaker 1: efficient scorer. So his value on offense is greater than
Speaker 1: his efficiency would lead you to believe because teams will
Speaker 1: account for him. I think he slots in really nicely
Speaker 1: as the starting three increases their size and rebounding ability
Speaker 1: gives them more scoring pop. The big variable here is
Speaker 1: can they get him to commit back to playing winning basketball.
Speaker 1: The Bucks also got Kevin Porter Junior. He's just a
Speaker 1: bench bucket getter. Nothing too crazy there. He has all
Speaker 1: the footwork in dribble comp nations to get his own shot,
Speaker 1: but he just isn't particularly good at making shots, for
Speaker 1: whatever that's worth. Jericho Sims is just a hyper athletic
Speaker 1: center who plays really hard but isn't really good at
Speaker 1: anything on either end of the floor. I do think
Speaker 1: the Bucks got a little better in this trade cycle.
Speaker 1: It certainly would have been better if they could have
Speaker 1: pulled off something like a Jimmy Butler deal or Zach
Speaker 1: Lavine deal, but they didn't win in those bidding wars,
Speaker 1: and so they ended up having to pivot to something else.
Speaker 1: And again, like with the urgency surrounding Dame's age and
Speaker 1: Gianni's commitment to the franchise, like you had to do something.
Speaker 1: It's not perfect, there's risk involved. Kyle Kuzma shares a
Speaker 1: certain amount of variability here with his commitment to winning.
Speaker 1: But you had to do something, and this is this
Speaker 1: at least has the potential to bring real upside for
Speaker 1: the Bucks. All right, weving new segments that we're debuting
Speaker 1: today from our new partner, Microsoft. So let's get into that.
Speaker 1: Welcome to course correction brought to you by Microsoft. Just
Speaker 1: like star players and teams navigating performance hurdles, business decision
Speaker 1: makers today are under immense pressure to get things right.
Speaker 1: They must rise to the occasion, turning challenges into opportunities.
Speaker 1: Microsoft empowers these visionaries with AI solutions, simplified cloud and
Speaker 1: data management and trustworthy, responsible AI. And when you're in
Speaker 1: the NBA, you have your own hurdles to face. In
Speaker 1: this segment, we're going to be exploring the challenges faced
Speaker 1: by teams or star players and how they can turn
Speaker 1: things around. Whatever challenge you're facing. Microsoft empowers you with
Speaker 1: the expertise to say bring it on. This week, we're
Speaker 1: discussing the challenge faced by Rob Polinka and the Los
Speaker 1: Angeles Lakers. Rob Blink and the Lakers were in a
Speaker 1: little bit of a bind. They were built around a
Speaker 1: forty year old Lebron James and a soon to be
Speaker 1: thirty two year old Anthony Davis, who's a little older
Speaker 1: than his age would lead you to believe, and they
Speaker 1: looked like a team that clearly did not have a
Speaker 1: championship ceiling, in large part because of mistakes that this
Speaker 1: front office made, the catastrophe of the Russell Westbrook trade,
Speaker 1: roster imbalances brought by a failure to prioritize motor and
Speaker 1: athleticism around their aging stars. It looked really bleak, But
Speaker 1: at the same time, the team this year was showing
Speaker 1: some real promise. The Lakers are seventeen and eight in
Speaker 1: their last twenty five games, to seventh best record in
Speaker 1: the league. Over that span. They've shown some real promise
Speaker 1: with their small ball groups on both ends of the floor,
Speaker 1: impressive wins against the Boston Celtics, the Knicks without Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: a small ball group the Clippers without They beat the
Speaker 1: Clippers without Anthony Davis or without Max Christy, a lot
Speaker 1: of small ball groups in those games. Lebron has looked fantastic.
Speaker 1: But then Nico Harrison calls with an opportunity involving Luka Doncic.
Speaker 1: This is where I thought Rob rose to the occasion
Speaker 1: and turned a challenge into an opportunity. Started with self awareness.
Speaker 1: Everything in life starts with you being willing to admit
Speaker 1: you're good at and admit what you're bad at. There
Speaker 1: was a moment there where Rob had to take a
Speaker 1: look at this and realize that they're not good enough,
Speaker 1: even though they've been playing well, even though it looks
Speaker 1: like there's an upside, even though you could argue that
Speaker 1: team might have been a trade away. But it was
Speaker 1: about looking at that and making a tough decision with
Speaker 1: self awareness about where this team was actually going. This
Speaker 1: was a high point in Lakers history, this recent stretch
Speaker 1: of games that they've been playing in recent Lakers history.
Speaker 1: I should say there was a lot of optimism floating around,
Speaker 1: but the reality was they weren't good enough to beat Oka.
Speaker 1: See they weren't good enough to beat Boston. They might
Speaker 1: not have even been good enough to beat Denver. So
Speaker 1: first Rob makes the big decision, We're moving on from
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis to Luca. But from there he had to
Speaker 1: navigate the massive problem that presents for the rest of
Speaker 1: the roster when you send out Anthony Davis and you
Speaker 1: don't even have a viable replacement at center. From there,
Speaker 1: Rob did a really nice job of negotiating with Nico
Speaker 1: Harrison holding on to his twenty fie thirty one first
Speaker 1: round pick holding on to Dalton connect Those are two
Speaker 1: assets that you could argue Nico Harrison should have just
Speaker 1: demanded like Dalton should be a mav that pick should
Speaker 1: be the MAVs. And Rob held his ground and hung
Speaker 1: onto those picks that gave him the ability to make
Speaker 1: another trade to find the center of the future in
Speaker 1: Mark Williams. And to top it all off, you managed
Speaker 1: to clear a roster spot in the process, which is
Speaker 1: huge because I think the Lakers are going to be
Speaker 1: the premier buyout destination in the entire NBA in the
Speaker 1: next month. Any center that signs with the Lakers can
Speaker 1: get a pretty much guaranteed rotation spot. Any wing or
Speaker 1: swingman that can play some defense and shoot has guaranteed
Speaker 1: minutes available. They are the premier buyout destination, and they
Speaker 1: cleared out a roster spot. One of the things I
Speaker 1: always talk about on this show with respect to players
Speaker 1: is the idea of just making a play. It doesn't
Speaker 1: matter how bad of a game you're having, it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter how bad of a season you're having. If you
Speaker 1: just start playing better, then your circumstances will improve. And
Speaker 1: it's been a really rough tenure for Rob Polinka as
Speaker 1: GM of the Lakers, but he just pulled off the unthinkable.
Speaker 1: He just reopened a championship contending window, one that seemed
Speaker 1: almost shut, and now it could be open for the
Speaker 1: next decade. Now, as basketball fans, we get to do
Speaker 1: the fun part, which is watching Lebron James and Luka
Speaker 1: Doncic play basketball together. So shout out to Rob Polinka.
Speaker 1: He made a play, so to speak, and now he's
Speaker 1: completely rewritten the story of his tenure as general manager
Speaker 1: of the Los Angeles Lakers. That's it for this week's
Speaker 1: course correction. Remember Microsoft's AI solutions empower you to take
Speaker 1: bold steps and make informed decisions, sparking new ideas to
Speaker 1: help you drive your business forward. With Microsoft as your
Speaker 1: trusted partner. You can navigate your journey with confidence. Your
Speaker 1: journey with confidence, finding innovative solutions in reaching new possibilities.
Speaker 1: Visit Microsoft dot com Slash Challengers to learn more. All right, guys,
Speaker 1: before we get out of here, we're going to do
Speaker 1: a rapid fire segment hitting through a bunch of other
Speaker 1: stuff around the league. First of all, Kevin Durant refusing
Speaker 1: Golden State. I wanted Kevin Durant to go to Golden State.
Speaker 1: I straight up think he would have had a better
Speaker 1: chance to win there than he did in Phoenix. I
Speaker 1: talked about this in the Jimmy Butler Show yesterday, but
Speaker 1: I think there's a misconception about the Warriors that they're bad,
Speaker 1: when really they're just horribly imbalanced. Even after that Jimmy
Speaker 1: Butler trade, they still have like eleven rotation players that
Speaker 1: can play meaningful basketball, at least within the context of
Speaker 1: the regular season, and they were able to bring in
Speaker 1: a guy in Jimmy Butler that immediately balances the roster out.
Speaker 1: You don't need fifteen guys that can play minutes in
Speaker 1: the NBA. You don't need fifteen of them. You can
Speaker 1: do it with eleven and give yourself, more firepower off
Speaker 1: the top right. I thought KD would have very cleanly
Speaker 1: kind of slotted into that Jimmy Butler type of role
Speaker 1: that we talked about last night, same concepts that I
Speaker 1: talked about last night with respect to playing alongside Steph.
Speaker 1: I did have a warrior though, even when all that
Speaker 1: buzz was kind of building on Tuesday. This week, I've
Speaker 1: just heard from so many different sources like that Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant really didn't like the way the whole Golden State
Speaker 1: thing went down, and that he looks back at that
Speaker 1: era with a little more contempt than people are willing
Speaker 1: to realize. And so I was hoping that enough time
Speaker 1: had passed and you know, like maybe it would have
Speaker 1: been able to Like I'd heard a report too that
Speaker 1: like Phoenix was coverting Draymond in that deal. Like I
Speaker 1: thought maybe there was some way to work it out
Speaker 1: towards Kevin Durant going that direction. But he stepped in
Speaker 1: there and he said, I don't want to do it.
Speaker 1: I don't want to go back to the Bay. And
Speaker 1: I do think that that comes down to the way
Speaker 1: everything that went down when he left, and so it's
Speaker 1: kind of a bummer and now Katie's stuck on that
Speaker 1: Sun's team, which I mean, I guess we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about it in a minute. Maybe they got a little
Speaker 1: bit better bringing in Cody Martin, but like, I don't
Speaker 1: see anything really substantial there that looks like an opportunity,
Speaker 1: So at least Vin doesn't have to move, I guess.
Speaker 1: But it was interesting the way he stepped in and
Speaker 1: nixed that deal from taking place. Marcus Smart to the
Speaker 1: Washington Wizards kind of crazy that they traded two picks,
Speaker 1: two first round picks to get him and then had
Speaker 1: to pay another first round pick to get off of him.
Speaker 1: It's a weird sequence for a front office that's otherwise
Speaker 1: been excellent. But the upside for the rest of the
Speaker 1: league is that if you are not in the first
Speaker 1: Aprin or second Apron, you could potentially get Marcus Smart
Speaker 1: in a buyout if he gets bought out before the
Speaker 1: end of the season, and I think he would be
Speaker 1: a really interesting buyout guy to raise the ceiling for
Speaker 1: a team. Golden State would be an interesting spot if
Speaker 1: Marcus Martin becomes available. Detroit, the Pistons get Dennis Schroeder.
Speaker 1: I actually really like Dennis Schroeder. He had a little
Speaker 1: bit of a rough go there with Golden State, but
Speaker 1: he was miscast as like the secondary star on the team.
Speaker 1: Dennis Schroeder, to me, is an extremely useful player in
Speaker 1: that he can guard point guards from the other teams.
Speaker 1: He is a savage competitor like legitimately just gives it
Speaker 1: his all every single night. I loved rooting for that guy.
Speaker 1: Pistons fans, you will love rooting for him. He just
Speaker 1: needs to be in a position where he's not depended
Speaker 1: on to a great deal to run offense. Now within Detroit,
Speaker 1: because of the injury to Jaden Ivy, he is going
Speaker 1: to kind of be in that position where he's expected
Speaker 1: to do a lot and there will be a lot
Speaker 1: of highs and lows for Dennis Schroeder on the offense
Speaker 1: at the end of the floor. You need to be
Speaker 1: aware of that. But I do like the idea of
Speaker 1: at least just giving kid another guy that can help,
Speaker 1: other guy that can help handle the ball, another guy
Speaker 1: that can handle ball pressure, another guy that can just
Speaker 1: carry shifts when he's off the floor. Again, you didn't
Speaker 1: want to do anything too crazy because you don't want
Speaker 1: to do anything to mess with Detroit's timeline. But at
Speaker 1: the same time, this is like a nice inexpensive move
Speaker 1: that just gives you a little bit more firepower to
Speaker 1: get a more interesting look at Detroit when they get
Speaker 1: to the postseason. The Clippers get bogged on mcdonovitch for
Speaker 1: Terrence Man and bones Highland, another shot creator for the Clippers.
Speaker 1: That's a team that's light on shot creation. Any injury
Speaker 1: that takes place all of a sudden, normOn powells your
Speaker 1: secondary shot creator and he's been great this year, but
Speaker 1: getting ball handling there is definitely an ad for the Clippers.
Speaker 1: Terrence Man had been kind of pushed to the edge
Speaker 1: of their rotation, which is weird. I actually really like Terrence.
Speaker 1: But he fits Atlanta's goal really well, which is Atlanta
Speaker 1: has been trying to surround Trey Young with athletes, young
Speaker 1: athletes that can cover for his size and limitations and
Speaker 1: benefit from his playmaking talent. That is a nice get
Speaker 1: for Atlanta there. The Suns turned use of Narkic and
Speaker 1: a first round pick into Cody Martin the sila Ja
Speaker 1: Mishic and a second round pick. Now Mitchich probably won't
Speaker 1: play with the point guards that they already have but
Speaker 1: Cody Martin is a useful wing athlete on a team
Speaker 1: that doesn't have many useful wing athletes, and use Off
Speaker 1: Nurkic was useless, so it cost you to protected first.
Speaker 1: But it was a nice moderate improvement and there was
Speaker 1: some real urgency here. Again, it's better than nothing, I guess,
Speaker 1: but I still don't feel like the Suns are going anywhere.
Speaker 1: Mini heat turned PJ. Tucker into Davion Mitchell, a guard
Speaker 1: who can really defend, and again this always brings value
Speaker 1: in the modern MBA, the ability to guard the ball,
Speaker 1: and I like Davion is like a kind of guy
Speaker 1: that you can deploy that just changes the flow of
Speaker 1: a game. You get into a game and you're playing
Speaker 1: against you know, the Nuggets or something like that, or
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of, like just let's just take
Speaker 1: any team in the Eastern Conference that has high level
Speaker 1: guard plays. Let's play say Milwaukee. Play Milwaukee and Damian
Speaker 1: Lillard just lighting up your starters like he's killing Terry Rogier,
Speaker 1: he's killing Tyler Harro on switches, and it's not looking
Speaker 1: pretty and you just need to do something to change
Speaker 1: the flow of the game. You take Davey on Mitchell out.
Speaker 1: You put him out there and you say pick up
Speaker 1: Dame full court. It can change the tenor of a game.
Speaker 1: It can disrupt rhythm. Again, he's not the kind of
Speaker 1: guy who's going to be in your closing five. He's
Speaker 1: not the kind of guy that you want playing thirty
Speaker 1: minutes a night. But it's a useful rotation player. Is
Speaker 1: a guard who can defend a kind of guy that
Speaker 1: can come in and bring ball pressure and change the
Speaker 1: flow of a game. And last trade we're getting into today,
Speaker 1: brandon Ingram to the Toronto Raptors. I actually really like
Speaker 1: brandon Ingram. I've talked about this before, but I think
Speaker 1: he is at his best when you put the ball
Speaker 1: in his hands and you allow him to run a
Speaker 1: lot of spread, pick and roll. He compared to most
Speaker 1: forwards in the league, is actually a really gifted passer.
Speaker 1: I think he's a guy that can raise your offensive
Speaker 1: floor to a great extent. He actually fits really nice
Speaker 1: next to Scotty. Like I look at Scotty is like
Speaker 1: the hammer to the brandon Ingram scalpel So to speak Scotty.
Speaker 1: It's interesting because like he's just so physically imposing. At times.
Speaker 1: I was watching which game was I watching the other day?
Speaker 1: I think it was Toronto for Chicago, and he was
Speaker 1: doing a lot of work like posting mismatches. He had
Speaker 1: a run in the third quarter where he like scored
Speaker 1: bucket after bucket after bucket attacking from the post. But
Speaker 1: like he just can run into a little bit of
Speaker 1: a wall on offense sometimes he has a tendency to
Speaker 1: settle for fadeaways in the post quite a bit. Like
Speaker 1: I think bringing in Ingram to make Scotty's life easier
Speaker 1: on offense is at least a worthwhile endeavor for Toronto
Speaker 1: to try. And then guess what you can decide at
Speaker 1: the end of this year if you want to resign
Speaker 1: brandon Ingram with some sort of long term deal, and
Speaker 1: whether or not the deal makes any sense really comes
Speaker 1: down to what you end up signing brandon Ingram too.
Speaker 1: It depends if you get him at a fair deal
Speaker 1: or if you end up having to overpay. And time
Speaker 1: will tell in that regard. The team isn't going anywhere,
Speaker 1: but it's certainly a hell of a lot more fun
Speaker 1: after this. All right, guys, That's all I have for
Speaker 1: today is always to sincerely appreciate you guys. For supporting
Speaker 1: me and supporting the show. I am very excited to
Speaker 1: get back into it, breaking down some games, talking about
Speaker 1: these players on their new teams. As of right now,
Speaker 1: we might be going live tonight after Warriors Lakers, depending
Speaker 1: on whether or not it's Steah plays, so keep an
Speaker 1: eye on my Twitter feed. We might have another episode tonight.
Speaker 1: If not, we'll be coming out tomorrow. Then we always
Speaker 1: have our mail bags like we usually do on Friday,
Speaker 1: and then time to start breaking down games. We plan
Speaker 1: on covering the Pacers Lakers Luka Doncic his debut on Saturday.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to that as well. Again, I really
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys for rocking with me and I will
Speaker 1: see you either tonight or tomorrow morning the volume What's
Speaker 1: Up guys? As always, I appreciate you for listening to
Speaker 1: and supporting OOPS tonight. It would actually be really helpful
Speaker 1: for us if you guys would take a second and
Speaker 1: leave a rating and a review. As always, I appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys supporting us, but if you could take a
Speaker 1: minute to do that, I'd really appreciate it.