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Speaker 1: welcome to Hoop tonight. You're at the volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody,

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Speaker 1: Hope all you guys are having a great week. We

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Speaker 1: had no games last night because of the presidential election

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Speaker 1: here in the US. Will not be discus that in

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Speaker 1: any capacity, but I do have the guys from Nerd, SSH,

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Speaker 1: Logan and Carson coming to join us for five big

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Speaker 1: questions surrounding the NBA. We're going to talk a little

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Speaker 1: bit about our top tier of contenders, whether or not

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Speaker 1: we should be making any tweaks to that after the

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Speaker 1: first few weeks of the season, we're going to talk

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Speaker 1: about the two biggest surprises in the league, the Golden

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Speaker 1: State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. I'm gonna I want

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Speaker 1: to spend some time on the Phoenix Suns. They're a

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Speaker 1: team that we haven't hit in the last few days,

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Speaker 1: and they're off to an equally impressive start against a

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Speaker 1: very tough schedule thanks to some late game shot making

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Speaker 1: from Kevin Durant. We're talk a little bit of MAVs, talk,

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Speaker 1: a little Lakers, and then the two biggest disappointments in

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Speaker 1: the NBA in my opinion this season, the Milwaukee Bucks

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Speaker 1: and the Denver Nuggets. So we're gonna be bouncing all

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Speaker 1: around the NBA. It's gonna be a lot of fun.

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Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and get started. Let's start with the

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Speaker 1: top tier of contenders. So, Carson and Logan, I started

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Speaker 1: the season with four teams in my top tier. I

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Speaker 1: had Boston for obvious reasons, defending champ incredibly dominant last year,

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Speaker 1: even though they didn't really face much in the way

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Speaker 1: of adversity along the way. I think that they would

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Speaker 1: have done well had they faced adversity given the talent

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Speaker 1: and the level of basketball that they were playing, and

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Speaker 1: I think that they were just a shoe in right

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City at Hartenstein at Caruso. To kind of get

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Speaker 1: into that point where they're nearly as talented as Boston,

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Speaker 1: you've got to include them. Denver for me, was Jokich's

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Speaker 1: the biggest matchup problem in the NBA. And then I

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Speaker 1: thought people were a little low on them after everything

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Speaker 1: that went down last year, basically them coming this close

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Speaker 1: to making it to the Western Conference Finals despite a

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Speaker 1: lot of stuff going against them. And then the New

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Speaker 1: York Knicks after trading Frog and Andobi at the tail

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Speaker 1: end of last year, getting Michael Bridges and Karl Anthony

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Speaker 1: Towns and they're super talented starting five. But Boston and

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma City have run away with things here early. I

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Speaker 1: think they're what thirteen and one or something like that

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Speaker 1: to start the year. But the Knicks and the Nuggets.

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Speaker 1: The Knicks aren't three and three, the Nuggets at four

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Speaker 1: and three, so both slow out the gate. Is it

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Speaker 1: clear that there's a kind of a rift forming between

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Speaker 1: those groups? I like, should we consider changing our top

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Speaker 1: tier contender list to just Boston and Oklahoma City. Let's

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Speaker 1: start with you, Carson, what do you think?

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Speaker 3: I do think so, and that's honestly where I've been at.

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Speaker 3: I had okay See winning the title preseason. I was

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Speaker 3: extremely extremely high on their offseason and their natural improvement

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Speaker 3: this year, just having such a young, rapidly ascending cores.

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Speaker 3: So I've basically viewed them in Boston as the two juggernauts,

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Speaker 3: and I would have agreed with you that these were

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Speaker 3: my top four teams preseason, but I think I would

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Speaker 3: have already had a division in terms of tier between

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Speaker 3: Boston and Okase. And then I viewed Denver as a

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Speaker 3: team that was.

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Speaker 4: Really, really good.

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Speaker 3: I also thought people were underestimating that had the potential

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Speaker 3: to play spoiler versus a team like oka See because

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Speaker 3: of the overwhelming Yokic factor as much as anything else.

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Speaker 3: But I think if there is some pretty clear separation there,

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Speaker 3: and the thing with oka See that is just so

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Speaker 3: ridiculous is what they're doing defensively. I thought they would

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Speaker 3: have the best defense in basketball. I think they do

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Speaker 3: have the best defense in basketball, and potentially one of

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Speaker 3: the best that we've seen in a long time. They

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Speaker 3: have a defensive rating under ninety four after seven games,

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Speaker 3: they're forcing almost twenty one turnovers per game. Like these

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Speaker 3: are just comical numbers, and even through seven games, like

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Speaker 3: the sample size is small, but that's still a relatively

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Speaker 3: long period to hold up these sort of ridiculous, disgusting numbers.

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Speaker 3: It's just one of the most disruptive defenses that we've

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Speaker 3: seen in a long time. They have an all world

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Speaker 3: rim protector in Chet. They have the best perimeter defense

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Speaker 3: in basketball around him. There's just ridiculous length and athleticism

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Speaker 3: and activity and collective IQ all around him.

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Speaker 4: And nothing is easy versus this team.

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Speaker 3: You see it versus Jokic right when they don't have

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Speaker 3: Hertenstein out there, so they have to double basically every touch,

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Speaker 3: they make, every catch hard, every rotation. They are smothering

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Speaker 3: every nugget around Yokic. When he is able to get

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Speaker 3: the ball to an open player, that player's only open

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Speaker 3: for a split second. What we've seen them do to

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Speaker 3: great ball handlers like Trey Young right, forcing him into

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Speaker 3: ten turnovers, It's just absurd the amount of chaos that

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Speaker 3: they cause. And I legitimately think they have four all

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Speaker 3: defense caliber players. Chet is a no brainer Caruso lou Dort.

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Speaker 3: I think Cason Wallace is playing at that level. I

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Speaker 3: think that he is an absolute hound defensively, and maybe

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Speaker 3: the craziest stat about their defense to start this year,

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Speaker 3: they have a ninety one defensive rating with Chet on

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Speaker 3: the floor, which is like incomprehensible, right, they also have

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Speaker 3: a sub ninety eight defensive rating with him off the floor,

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Speaker 3: and that's without Hartenstein, who's heard, and that's without Jay Will.

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Speaker 3: So they're doing those with five guard lineups, with lineups

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Speaker 3: that don't have a big on the floor, they are

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Speaker 3: just so ferocious thing for so many turnovers that teams

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Speaker 3: can't score on them, and those looks either. So that's

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Speaker 3: really what is so remarkable to me about Okay, see,

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Speaker 3: it is the defensive end of the floor, but it's

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Speaker 3: also just that versatility and it's that depth in terms

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Speaker 3: of the lethal defensive lineups they can play and the

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Speaker 3: legal offense lineups they can play, going two bigs with

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Speaker 3: Hartenstein out there, going small with Chet at the five,

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Speaker 3: and Chet has taken a leap on offense, and that's

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Speaker 3: another reason that I'm super high on this team. The

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Speaker 3: production the last three games hasn't really been there. He's

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Speaker 3: been in some foul trouble. He hasn't played too many minutes,

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Speaker 3: but he clearly looks more confident as a driver. He

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Speaker 3: just looks more aggressive out there offensively, and I think

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Speaker 3: that he is probably like a top twenty player in

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Speaker 3: basketball right now with what he's doing on the defensive end.

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Speaker 3: And that's the other thing. I think this Okase offense

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Speaker 3: is just going to continue to look better. They're nineteenth

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Speaker 3: in offensive rating right now and there's still number one

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Speaker 3: in net rating. I think that they have the talent

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Speaker 3: to be a top five offense with all the athleticism

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Speaker 3: and with all the playmaking and driving and shot creation

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Speaker 3: they have on the floor. And I do think that

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Speaker 3: with Hertenstein out there, they are more built for the

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Speaker 3: physical battle of the playoffs, which was the big question

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Speaker 3: last year. You have experience, but you also just have

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Speaker 3: the slightness of that team struggling on the glass, right

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Speaker 3: can they deal with some of these monsters in the

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Speaker 3: post a Nikole Yoelkic like Minnesota last year, which was

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Speaker 3: just huge with their two bigs. I do think if

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Speaker 3: they're better equipped to do that, and all the young

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Speaker 3: guys are getting better, and when you look at Denver

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Speaker 3: when you look at New York, Like, even if you

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Speaker 3: don't think the sky is falling for those teams, which

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Speaker 3: I don't, they are just way more flawed.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 3: The questions that we have fundamentally about New York on

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Speaker 3: the defensive end, the questions that we have about Denver's death,

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Speaker 3: new York's death as well, those to me just far

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Speaker 3: surpassed any question that I have about OKC, which I

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Speaker 3: guess would just be like their three point volume, and

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Speaker 3: maybe they're spacing when you are playing Hartenstein out there

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Speaker 3: alongside Schet, But I just think they're too great defensively,

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Speaker 3: and I still think they're too offensively skilled for that

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Speaker 3: to really matter against anybody other than Boston.

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Speaker 5: I agree with both of you guys.

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Speaker 6: I think Boston and Oklahoma City have separated themselves from

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Speaker 6: the pack. And to add some context to some of

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Speaker 6: those numbers that Carson was talking about.

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Speaker 5: Oklahoma City is seven and zero.

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Speaker 6: They've held five of their seven opponents to ninety five

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Speaker 6: or fewer points. Right now as it stands, again, we're

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Speaker 6: only through seven games of the NBA season, So do

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Speaker 6: with these numbers what you will. They have the number

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Speaker 6: two defensive rating in NBA history. You have to go

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Speaker 6: back to the nineteen seventies to see a team with

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Speaker 6: a lower mark. They're number one in defensive rating since

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Speaker 6: two thousand. The next two teams that you look at

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Speaker 6: are the two thousand and four Pistons in the two

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Speaker 6: thousand and four Spurs.

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Speaker 5: It's just a.

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Speaker 6: Completely different brand of basketball. Oklahoma City's also number one

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Speaker 6: in stocks per game. Ever by an NBA team that

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Speaker 6: steals in blocks per game. They're number one and steals

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Speaker 6: per game of any team in NBA history. And the

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Speaker 6: remarkable thing to me, guys, is that this team hasn't

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Speaker 6: broken a sweat yet. It really hasn't seemed like the

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Speaker 6: thunder have been pushed or had to over exert themselves.

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Speaker 6: So I do it starts with this defense, and obviously,

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Speaker 6: when we look back to what held them back in

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Speaker 6: the playoffs last year, Chet's gonna have to pull his

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Speaker 6: weight offensively. He was under sixteen points a night on

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Speaker 6: twenty six percent from deep. Jalen Williams has to pull

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Speaker 6: his weight offensively as well. In the Mavericks series, he

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Speaker 6: was seventeen a night on forty two percent from the field.

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Speaker 5: And the surrounding guys have to shoot well.

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Speaker 6: Cason Wallace was it just thirty two percent, Aaron Wiggins

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Speaker 6: was at thirty percent. But I think those guys earned

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Speaker 6: much needed playoff experience. Isaiah Hardenstein, as you mentioned, Carson

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Speaker 6: hasn't even played yet. Like, if you were telling me

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Speaker 6: they were gonna be putting up these numbers through seven games,

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Speaker 6: I would have thought he would have had to have

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Speaker 6: been on the floor. And so I just find myself

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Speaker 6: asking crazy questions about this team.

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Speaker 5: I don't know if you guys feel like this.

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Speaker 6: I've puted some questions to Carson in our text as

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Speaker 6: the season has started, but like I find myself asking

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Speaker 6: questions like can this team win seventy games? Can SGA

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Speaker 6: win MVP and Check win Defensive Player of the Year?

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Speaker 6: Like could this be maybe not this season, but eventually

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Speaker 6: one of the greatest teams ever. I'm getting a little

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Speaker 6: hyperbotlic here, but I do this team is I'm stupidly

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Speaker 6: high on Oklahoma City, and I do think they're in

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Speaker 6: a tier by themselves with Boston.

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Speaker 1: So I think some of the big picture conversations surrounding

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Speaker 1: like seventy games and some of the stuff of surrounding

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Speaker 1: their metrics, I think a little premature, just because they've played.

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Speaker 2: A really light schedule out the gates.

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Speaker 1: Now, for the record, I think Okaye's awesome and I

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Speaker 1: think they're gonna do well against better teams. But the West, guys,

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Speaker 1: the West and East, it's still two very different ballgames here. Like,

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Speaker 1: there are ten teams that are above five hundred so far,

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Speaker 1: eight of them.

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Speaker 2: Are in the West.

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Speaker 1: The West is sixty and forty eight, and head to

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Speaker 1: head matchups with the Eastern Conference to start the season,

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Speaker 1: that's about three percent and win percentage ahead of where

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Speaker 1: it was even last year when the West was seventy

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Speaker 1: games over five hundred against the East. So like, there's

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Speaker 1: just so many good teams night in and night out

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Speaker 1: out West that like Oklahoma City will drop games. I

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Speaker 1: think they're gonna run away with the one seed. I

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Speaker 1: think there's I think that I mean, to get to

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Speaker 1: the actual origin of the question, I am changing my

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Speaker 1: top tier of contenders, and I usually don't do this

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Speaker 1: sort of thing in less than ten games. But there's

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Speaker 1: obviously a lot that goes into it. These are two

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Speaker 1: very complex basketball teams, and the teams that I'm dropping

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Speaker 1: Denver and New York, I do think will play better

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Speaker 1: in the long run. New York is a new team,

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Speaker 1: They're figuring some stuff out. Denver just literally everyone's either

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Speaker 1: banged up or not playing well, like other than Jokic,

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Speaker 1: So that just that will just make a team look

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Speaker 1: lesser than they are. So like, I do think those

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Speaker 1: teams will play better in the long run. But to me,

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Speaker 1: Boston and Denver are very Excuse me, Boston and Oklahoma

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Speaker 1: City are very clearly on a separate tier from the rest.

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Speaker 2: Of the league.

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Speaker 1: They are the top tier of contenders that I look

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Speaker 1: at right now. And the main singular piece that I

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Speaker 1: want to focus on is as in this is every

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Speaker 1: every year in the NBA, I feel like I learn

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Speaker 1: more about the game of basketball. It's one of my

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Speaker 1: favorite things about the game. I feel like it's constantly

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Speaker 1: changing and shifting, and like even within that there's like

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Speaker 1: any one team that kind of finds a market inefficiency

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Speaker 1: can jump through and win kind of like Denver did

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Speaker 1: two years ago. Or it's like we don't shoot any threason,

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Speaker 1: we don't necessarily have a good defensive anchor at center,

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Speaker 1: but we're gonna win the title, which was like super rare, right,

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Speaker 1: Like there's the game is always.

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Speaker 2: Shifting and changing.

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Speaker 1: And one of the main things that really stood out

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Speaker 1: to me over the course of the start of the

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Speaker 1: season is that the game of basketball shifted so much

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Speaker 1: towards pacing and spacing and shooting, driving, kicking. Hell damn,

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Speaker 1: near twenty percent, damn near one fifth of these games

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Speaker 1: is being played in transition at this point, Like literally

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Speaker 1: a significant chunk of the game is up and down,

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Speaker 1: flying up and down the court. So your ability to

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Speaker 1: have speed on the floor, to cover ground in transition,

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Speaker 1: to cover ground in rotation, to pressure the ball and

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Speaker 1: contain the ball, flatten out drives to win long rebound

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Speaker 1: contests and fifty to fifty balls. That sort of thing

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Speaker 1: to me as rising to the surface as one of

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Speaker 1: the most important traits of a basketball team. And in

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Speaker 1: addition to all of the things that Boston does extremely well,

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Speaker 1: and in addition to all the things that Oklahoma City

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Speaker 1: does ext extremely well, they're both just fast as shit,

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Speaker 1: and they're both deep with players that can cover ground

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Speaker 1: in transition, in rotation, that can get into the ball

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Speaker 1: with pressure and make teams uncomfortable and fight them off

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Speaker 1: of spots. And like, when I look down the rest

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Speaker 1: of the league, I think there are teams that can

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Speaker 1: match that speed. Golden State is a team we're going

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Speaker 1: to talk about that I think can match that speed

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Speaker 1: on the perimeter. But those two teams are the only

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Speaker 1: two teams that have that kind of all encompassing trait

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Speaker 1: that I think is so important while having the amount

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Speaker 1: of firepower necessary to win for playoff rounds. Now, neither

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Speaker 1: team is off to a perfect start. Boston's defense and

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Speaker 1: even their transition defense hasn't been great to start the year,

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Speaker 1: although they've been playing in a lot of blowouts. Oklahoma City,

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Speaker 1: you know, Shaye and Jaylen Williams are really working hard

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Speaker 1: to increase their pull up three point shot volume and

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Speaker 1: they're experimenting with some stuff. I love the breakdown you

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Speaker 1: gave on chet. I agree, he's been one of the

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Speaker 1: twenty best players I've watched to start the season. Again,

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Speaker 1: we'll see it's a small sample size. He's got to

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Speaker 1: maintain it. But he's just he's just hooping.

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Speaker 2: His ass off. There's no other way. There's no other

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Speaker 2: way to put it.

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Speaker 1: But to me, like Boston and Oklahoma City, they just

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Speaker 1: they're separating themselves and like, I'm going to have a

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Speaker 1: really hard time at this point finding any reason to

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Speaker 1: pick against either of them in their conferences, and I

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Speaker 1: think we could be headed to a very, very exciting

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Speaker 1: NBA Finals. All right, let's move on to our surprises.

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Speaker 1: So the two biggest surprises in the NBA this year

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Speaker 1: the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now very

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Speaker 1: different in the sense that the Cavs were already considered

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Speaker 1: like kind of a middle of the pack Eastern Conference

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Speaker 1: playoff team that is overachieving to the top of the conference.

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Speaker 1: Golden State, I think, was a team that most people

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Speaker 1: around the league were pretty low on for good reason

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Speaker 1: coming out of last year. They were They were well

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Speaker 1: below five hundred against teams that were five hundred or

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Speaker 1: better last season. A couple of big pivotal must win

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Speaker 1: games at the end of the year against media yocre teams,

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Speaker 1: they lost both of them. Steph didn't look like a

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Speaker 1: top ten player anymore. There was just there was some

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Speaker 1: weird politics stuff going on, like it just looked like

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Speaker 1: a team that maybe wasn't even worth investing it in

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Speaker 1: terms of making a deal and just moving coming into

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Speaker 1: the bench, getting Clay out of there, having everybody buy

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Speaker 1: into Rolls.

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Speaker 2: All of a sudden. They have this thirteen man rotation.

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Speaker 1: I think they nailed every single signing from the summer,

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Speaker 1: and even with Steph barely contributing to this point in

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Speaker 1: the season, they're kicking everybody's butt. I'll be it against

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Speaker 1: a light schedule. So between the Warriors and the Cavs,

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Speaker 1: and we'll start with you, Logan, which of those two

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Speaker 1: teams do you think has more potential to actually compete

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Speaker 1: for a championship this year?

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Speaker 6: I think it's the Cavaliers, and I gotta go, Nick Kolla,

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Speaker 6: listen here. I got to put my hand up the

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Speaker 6: people that you were describing previous season about both of

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Speaker 6: these teams.

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Speaker 5: I'm in both.

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Speaker 6: I did not expect the Warriors to be close to

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Speaker 6: five hundred this year. I thought they were going to

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Speaker 6: hover around there, but I didn't think they were going

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Speaker 6: to overachieve, especially with Steph Curry out. Like this team

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Speaker 6: has been really resilient. They've battled every night, and I

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Speaker 6: think this entire team really compliments one another. I do

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Speaker 6: think they have a glaring flaw that could come back

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Speaker 6: to bite them. I'll get into that in a minute,

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Speaker 6: but I do think it's Cleveland. And it starts with

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Speaker 6: Evan Mobley's leap. Carson just did a video yesterday on

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Speaker 6: Evan Mobley, which you guys can find on the nerd

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Speaker 6: Sash YouTube channel if you an interested, full breakdown on

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Speaker 6: the development he's had this year. But he's already one

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Speaker 6: of the best defenders on the planet. The Cavs are

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Speaker 6: nine point four points per one hundre possessions better with Mobley.

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Speaker 6: It's a difference between a defensive rating of one oh

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Speaker 6: four point seven and one fourteen point one.

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Speaker 5: Mobley's been doing this.

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Speaker 6: Carson called him the best defensive prospect he had ever

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Speaker 6: evaluated at the time of the draft. He's always been

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Speaker 6: really transformative on that end, and you could see that

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Speaker 6: he was going to be really impactful there. But it's

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Speaker 6: really about the offensive leap first. Mobley's been a problem

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Speaker 6: in transition. He's an eighty first percentile transition scorer, and

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Speaker 6: he can do.

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Speaker 5: It in both ways.

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Speaker 6: Either if he's trailing the ball hand and just running

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Speaker 6: the floor when you feeds your big man right, he's

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Speaker 6: a problem there getting up and down with Garland and Mitchell,

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Speaker 6: but he's also handling in transition, which is crazy. There

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Speaker 6: was a play in the Milwaukee game where he gets

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Speaker 6: a block at the rim, gets the ball at about

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Speaker 6: the three quarters line of the court, takes four dribbles,

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Speaker 6: and is at the rim.

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Speaker 5: Dunking it like it's just insane. Stuff like that. He

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Speaker 5: can do that.

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Speaker 6: But he's initiating from the perimeter. He's taking and shooting

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Speaker 6: more confidently than ever. He's taking two threes a game.

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Speaker 6: I know that's not a lot, but it's an improvement

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Speaker 6: for Mobile, and again he's taking them confidently. You're watching

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Speaker 6: Mobley take floaters, post hooks. He's being more aggressive and

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Speaker 6: more willing as a roleman like. And I want to

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Speaker 6: be clear about something. The touch and the footwork are

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Speaker 6: very much still a work in progress. You can see

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Speaker 6: that game to game with Mobley, but he's getting and

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Speaker 6: manufacturing high quality looks. It's such a high level he

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Speaker 6: just makes it look easy. It's not really about him

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Speaker 6: getting to the looks.

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Speaker 5: It's about Mobley making them. And so if he can cross.

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Speaker 6: Over that barrier, I think there's even another leap that

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Speaker 6: Mobley could tap into. Where you're looking at this guy

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Speaker 6: potentially is maybe a you know, I think a twenty

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Speaker 6: two or twenty three point per game score, and that's

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Speaker 6: really deadly, But it's really about how he unlocks the

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Speaker 6: rest of this team around him, because for the longest time,

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Speaker 6: for years now, Carson and I have been talking about

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Speaker 6: the dynamic and the fit with having two offensive oriented

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Speaker 6: guards and Garland and Mitchell, and then two very limited

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Speaker 6: offensive players and Mobley and Allen. If Mobley can make

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Speaker 6: this a legitimate leap, him and Allen can coexist and

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Speaker 6: compliment one another, and they can have a great defense

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Speaker 6: alongside them. Garland also has returned to forhim he was

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Speaker 6: dealing with a broken jaw last year. He looks like

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Speaker 6: he's come back in a big way. The last game

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Speaker 6: against the Bucks thirty nine points, seven to three pointers.

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Speaker 6: It's I underestimated them, guys, Like I think the Cavs

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Speaker 6: are my number two team out East. I thought the

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Speaker 6: Knicks were clearly going to be the number two team,

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Speaker 6: and it's close between them. I want to be clear

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Speaker 6: about that, but I don't think the Knicks can do

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Speaker 6: what the Cavs do defensively night tonight, and I like

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Speaker 6: their depth more this year too.

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Speaker 5: I was sleeping. I apologize Dean Wade. Dean Wade is

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Speaker 5: kind of a ball guys.

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Speaker 6: Kris Lavert Off the bench can serve you a cool

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Speaker 6: twenty whenever he needs to. Akro is a good supporting

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Speaker 6: piece off the bench. I love me some Ti Jerome.

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Speaker 6: I have always loved Ti Jerome. I love what he

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Speaker 6: gives this bench. He's not the most impactful guy, but

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Speaker 6: he can make some good passes and hold up defensively.

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Speaker 6: I just trust their defense and their depth more than

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Speaker 6: the Knicks and the reason I favor.

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Speaker 5: Them over the Warriors.

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Speaker 6: I'm impressed by their depth and all the pieces that

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Speaker 6: they have. I just feel like the Warriors are a

435
00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:45,680
Speaker 6: little small and that can come back to get them.

436
00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:48,159
Speaker 6: Looney and TJ De or their tallest guys in the

437
00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:51,200
Speaker 6: rotation at six foot nine, I just feel like against

438
00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:53,920
Speaker 6: bigger teams out West that could get them. Like you

439
00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:55,880
Speaker 6: guys said, they play fast, and I think that's how

440
00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:58,480
Speaker 6: Golden State needs to play to win games. And this

441
00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,680
Speaker 6: has been an impressive stretch without Steph. But I feel

442
00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:04,840
Speaker 6: like the more jumbo sized out teams in the West

443
00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,679
Speaker 6: could just big body them in some playoff series, and

444
00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:12,160
Speaker 6: that's why I'm hesitant to consider the Warriors a real contender.

445
00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:14,880
Speaker 3: I've been very impressed by both these teams, but I'm

446
00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:16,840
Speaker 3: with you, Logan, I think that Cleveland is the more

447
00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:19,280
Speaker 3: legit contender, and you touched on a lot of the

448
00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:20,680
Speaker 3: reasons that I feel that way.

449
00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:23,080
Speaker 4: The mobile leap is a big deal.

450
00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:24,760
Speaker 3: And I understand if you haven't watched the Caves a

451
00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:26,800
Speaker 3: ton and you're looking at the box score and you're saying, Okay,

452
00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:29,120
Speaker 3: what he's averaging seventeen and a half points per game

453
00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:31,760
Speaker 3: compared to fifteen points per game, Like, what's the big

454
00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:34,880
Speaker 3: whoop there? He's being utilized in a totally different way

455
00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:37,679
Speaker 3: in this offense. Logan mentioned how empowered he's been as

456
00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:41,000
Speaker 3: a grab and go guy pushing. In transition, he is

457
00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,200
Speaker 3: now running pick and roll, running inverted pick and roll

458
00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,160
Speaker 3: and has been effective there. He's driving twice as much

459
00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:49,840
Speaker 3: per game. So there's just a different level of comfort

460
00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:52,520
Speaker 3: and confidence we're seeing from him as a ball handler,

461
00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:55,399
Speaker 3: as a driver, as a creator in this offense that

462
00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:58,600
Speaker 3: I was always optimistic he developed as a prospect. I

463
00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:01,440
Speaker 3: love Devin Mobley as a prospect. He was my favorite guy,

464
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:04,280
Speaker 3: not just in that class but in the past handful

465
00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:07,600
Speaker 3: of drafts. But he just hadn't developed at the rate

466
00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:10,160
Speaker 3: that I was hoping. Offensively through three years and now

467
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,520
Speaker 3: we're seeing it. And he's not an offensive star, but

468
00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:16,480
Speaker 3: he's a really good offensive player. And the significance of

469
00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:18,720
Speaker 3: that does go past the box score when you just

470
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:21,840
Speaker 3: have another legitimate threat on the floor when you are

471
00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:24,439
Speaker 3: playing these two big looks, and now you have a

472
00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:27,640
Speaker 3: guy who actually can beat you from the three point line.

473
00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:27,960
Speaker 2: Right.

474
00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:30,280
Speaker 3: Mobley's not going to jack up four or five threes

475
00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:32,680
Speaker 3: a game, but he's been willingly taking a couple of

476
00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:34,760
Speaker 3: night and he's been making them at a solid clip.

477
00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:38,840
Speaker 3: And he's also been much more willing to attack closeouts, right,

478
00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:40,480
Speaker 3: So you have to at least respect him out of

479
00:22:40,480 --> 00:22:41,800
Speaker 3: the three point line, and then he can put the

480
00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:43,960
Speaker 3: ball on the floor and do some damage. That's always

481
00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:46,160
Speaker 3: been the biggest question with the Cavs. It's just can

482
00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,320
Speaker 3: they put together a legitimately good offense. I do not

483
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,439
Speaker 3: think that Evan Mobley single handedly solves that, but I

484
00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:55,040
Speaker 3: do think that he helps a good bit. And I think

485
00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:56,880
Speaker 3: when you pair that with the fact that they are

486
00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:01,399
Speaker 3: now starting the best shooting wing that they've had, certainly

487
00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:04,720
Speaker 3: the best combination of both shooting and defense in Dean Wade,

488
00:23:05,119 --> 00:23:07,720
Speaker 3: that makes this offense better. The difference between him and

489
00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:10,520
Speaker 3: and Isaac Okoro, who was twenty six percent from deep

490
00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:13,000
Speaker 3: on low volume in the playoffs is big.

491
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:15,760
Speaker 4: And then when you add that Garland.

492
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:19,840
Speaker 3: I think when comes back, I think Strus is also

493
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:22,000
Speaker 3: a good combination of shooting in defense, but I would

494
00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:24,359
Speaker 3: probably go with Dean. I think that Dean is the

495
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,240
Speaker 3: better defensive player. I think that his switch ability is

496
00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:30,040
Speaker 3: so valuable. But I think either way that's not a

497
00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:32,439
Speaker 3: bad option. And I think that your depth is better

498
00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:35,879
Speaker 3: with those guys out there healthy. I just particularly have

499
00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:38,200
Speaker 3: an issue with Okoro starting as he did a lot

500
00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:41,240
Speaker 3: last year because of his offensive limitations, but I would

501
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:42,200
Speaker 3: keep starting Dean Wade.

502
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:43,200
Speaker 4: I think he's really good.

503
00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:46,199
Speaker 3: But so then you add that in, you add the

504
00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:49,280
Speaker 3: mobile leap, you add that Garland is playing better offensively.

505
00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:52,200
Speaker 3: And I always loved Garland, but I was super discouraged

506
00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:55,399
Speaker 3: by last year's playoff run and just how passive he was,

507
00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:58,320
Speaker 3: how much he was struggling. He looks much more confident

508
00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:01,600
Speaker 3: after an offseason getting his body right. So like, there's

509
00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,360
Speaker 3: a lot of pieces coming together for Cleveland here. They're

510
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:07,119
Speaker 3: second in offensive rating right now, and I do not

511
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:10,359
Speaker 3: expect that to hold up. And in a contending context,

512
00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:12,920
Speaker 3: that is still my concern is what is their real

513
00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:17,520
Speaker 3: ceiling offensively? And also their wing play isn't great, right,

514
00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:20,240
Speaker 3: shout out Dean Wade, shout out Max Struce. They have

515
00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:23,200
Speaker 3: solid wings, but compared to some of the other teams

516
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:25,520
Speaker 3: who were looking at you know, they still aren't stacked

517
00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:27,800
Speaker 3: at the position group. But they look way better than

518
00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:30,600
Speaker 3: last year. And I think that they clearly have the

519
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:33,679
Speaker 3: defensive ceiling. I think that now they have a bigger

520
00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 3: offensive punch to throw. I mean, their backward offensively is phenomenal,

521
00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:39,000
Speaker 3: and we know what Donovan Mitchell can do in these

522
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:41,600
Speaker 3: playoff environments where he can play like a top fifteen

523
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:44,679
Speaker 3: sort of player, But now the burden isn't quite the

524
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:47,440
Speaker 3: same on him to have to put up twenty five

525
00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:50,480
Speaker 3: shots a night because there is more skill around him offensively.

526
00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:53,480
Speaker 3: So Logan, you're talking about comparing them to the Knicks,

527
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,119
Speaker 3: I'm going to hold out before I make any declarations

528
00:24:56,160 --> 00:24:59,199
Speaker 3: on that in terms of the postseason, but I think

529
00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:02,760
Speaker 3: the Cavs are, like you're prototypical great regular season team

530
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:06,159
Speaker 3: with what they do defensively, and I do expect them

531
00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,720
Speaker 3: to get that two seed. I just think fundamentally they're

532
00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:12,399
Speaker 3: more talented than the Warriors. But I do love the

533
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,760
Speaker 3: Warriors depth. I love their depth. It's ridiculous, right. I

534
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:20,040
Speaker 3: was at the first Pelicans game without Steph, and Lindy

535
00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,320
Speaker 3: Waters just emerges in that game as like a legitimate

536
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,040
Speaker 3: NBA rotation player. They just have these dudes popping up

537
00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:28,160
Speaker 3: out of nowhere. And Melton was a good at Kyle

538
00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:31,240
Speaker 3: Anderson was a good ad. Buddy phenomenal ad. And that's

539
00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:33,680
Speaker 3: the last aspect that I really like about this Warriors

540
00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:36,400
Speaker 3: team is the three point shooting. I mean, they got

541
00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:38,320
Speaker 3: a lot of dudes who can really shoot out there

542
00:25:38,359 --> 00:25:41,920
Speaker 3: with Buddy. With Lindy Waters playing more, Podds is going

543
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:44,200
Speaker 3: to shoot much better than he has early in the year.

544
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:46,679
Speaker 3: And I'm just a believer in pods and I'm with you,

545
00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:48,480
Speaker 3: coming to going to the bench is a big deal.

546
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:50,960
Speaker 3: So I'm not underestimating the Warriors at this point. I

547
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:53,000
Speaker 3: underestimated them before the year. I thought they were a

548
00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:55,639
Speaker 3: play in team. I think this team can win fifty

549
00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:58,879
Speaker 3: games right now. And the crazy stat last year was

550
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,080
Speaker 3: with Steph on the floor, they were still an eighty

551
00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,719
Speaker 3: second percentile offense, and the skill around him is clearly

552
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:07,640
Speaker 3: better this year and Draymond is one of those great

553
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:10,080
Speaker 3: defensive anchors and the team is totally bought in on

554
00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:12,960
Speaker 3: that end. The Warriors are really good, but I do

555
00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:17,680
Speaker 3: still worry about some of the size stuff against big teams.

556
00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:20,760
Speaker 3: I do still worry about the lack of a real

557
00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,119
Speaker 3: second shot creator, even though I think Buddy is playing

558
00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:27,200
Speaker 3: out of his mind offensively right now. That's the thing

559
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:29,359
Speaker 3: that we've seen bite the Warriors a lot on the

560
00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:31,959
Speaker 3: offensive end in recent years, and that does still concern

561
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,480
Speaker 3: me a little bit. And the shooting has been really good,

562
00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:37,640
Speaker 3: but sometimes when you go with those Draymond TJD lineups,

563
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:40,560
Speaker 3: you just want a little more offensive skill on the floor.

564
00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:44,240
Speaker 4: I think I just have more red flags about.

565
00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:46,640
Speaker 3: The Warriors still, but they've been a joy to watch,

566
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:49,680
Speaker 3: and anytime that you put a good team around Steph Curry,

567
00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:52,240
Speaker 3: that makes me happy to see because I was very,

568
00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:54,600
Speaker 3: very discouraged about where they were at after last.

569
00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:56,960
Speaker 4: Year, and I think that they've really been impressive.

570
00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:12,199
Speaker 1: So I think I actually disagree with both of you

571
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:14,840
Speaker 1: guys on this one, and the main reason why is

572
00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:17,640
Speaker 1: I'm looking through everything to the context of Oklahoma City

573
00:27:17,640 --> 00:27:22,240
Speaker 1: and Boston. So like, if we agree that Boston and

574
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,840
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City are kind of head and shoulders above everybody else,

575
00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,720
Speaker 1: and that they essentially represent the hurdles that anybody has

576
00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:30,080
Speaker 1: to overcome in order to get out of their conference

577
00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:33,080
Speaker 1: or to win the title. Then I'm looking through things

578
00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:36,280
Speaker 1: through the context of beating those specific teams. Now that

579
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:39,080
Speaker 1: it gets complicated because you probably have to deal with

580
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:42,639
Speaker 1: different matchups on your way there, and neither Oklahoma City

581
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:45,399
Speaker 1: or Boston are particularly large on the front line in

582
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 1: ways that could give Golden State issues or things along

583
00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:52,800
Speaker 1: those lines. Right, So, like it's complicated, But the reason

584
00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:55,240
Speaker 1: why I would say that I trust Golden State a

585
00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:59,560
Speaker 1: little bit more is I specifically am interested in the

586
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:03,159
Speaker 1: way that their defense can match up with both Oklahoma

587
00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:07,199
Speaker 1: City's offense and Boston's offense. Like, I'm super excited to

588
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:11,399
Speaker 1: watch tonight's game between Golden State and Boston. For the record,

589
00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:13,640
Speaker 1: I think Boston will win. I think steps coming back

590
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:16,000
Speaker 1: from an injury, I don't think that he I think

591
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,000
Speaker 1: he's still even on a little bit of a minute's restriction.

592
00:28:18,359 --> 00:28:19,960
Speaker 2: I don't know if they have the firepower.

593
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:23,440
Speaker 1: Boston is also extremely emotionally motivated to win that game

594
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:27,399
Speaker 1: after their kind of perceived slight surrounding the Team USA

595
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,920
Speaker 1: situation this summer, So like they're I'm not necessarily saying

596
00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:32,679
Speaker 1: they're gonna win, but I am really curious just to

597
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:35,520
Speaker 1: see how they guard. I think Steve's gonna go in

598
00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,680
Speaker 1: there and switch damn near everything and try to contain

599
00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:41,400
Speaker 1: the ball and try to not overhelp and to try

600
00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:43,320
Speaker 1: to force these guys to play one on one most

601
00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:43,760
Speaker 1: of the night.

602
00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:45,160
Speaker 2: And I'm just.

603
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:47,440
Speaker 1: Really curious to see how that looks. Because again, like

604
00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:51,400
Speaker 1: when I look at when I look at Cleveland and

605
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:55,920
Speaker 1: I imagine them running into and I imagine them running

606
00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:59,280
Speaker 1: into a team like Boston in a playoff series. It's

607
00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:01,880
Speaker 1: they have such a unique gift, just like they did

608
00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:05,400
Speaker 1: with Dallas in the finals last year. They are uniquely

609
00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:09,040
Speaker 1: equipped to consistently expose your weak point on defense because

610
00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:11,720
Speaker 1: of their depth of offensive initiation. They have so many

611
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:14,160
Speaker 1: different ways that they can initiate offense. And so like

612
00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:17,320
Speaker 1: I do worry about Garland guarding in space, I do

613
00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,280
Speaker 1: worry about teams picking on you know, if they think, oh, yeah,

614
00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:22,840
Speaker 1: Dean Waite really solid defender, but you know, maybe we

615
00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:25,360
Speaker 1: can get dribble penetration on him if we go this way.

616
00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:27,880
Speaker 1: Or that way. Donovan Mitchell is a guy too that

617
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:30,880
Speaker 1: like competes. He's physical, can apply a little bit of

618
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:34,400
Speaker 1: ball pressure, but historically not necessarily the best defensive player

619
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:36,239
Speaker 1: in the world when things are flying around, even though

620
00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:38,320
Speaker 1: I think he had a really good defensive season last year.

621
00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:41,280
Speaker 1: The point being there, there's just more entry points for

622
00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:44,360
Speaker 1: Boston to get Cleveland into rotation, and then it becomes

623
00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:46,800
Speaker 1: a simple question of like, do I think that Cleveland

624
00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 1: could ever hope to keep up with Boston offensively and

625
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,360
Speaker 1: the answers no. And when it comes to Golden State,

626
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:55,520
Speaker 1: like I just envisioned them as a team against both

627
00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:58,240
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City and Boston as team, as a team that

628
00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:02,120
Speaker 1: can play at at least four good defensive players at

629
00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:05,760
Speaker 1: all times. Steph Curry is you know, he has been

630
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:07,600
Speaker 1: attacked a lot over the course of his career, and

631
00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:09,800
Speaker 1: it's become something that teams do a ton. I'd like

632
00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:12,040
Speaker 1: last summer, I went back and watched the Lakers series.

633
00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:14,040
Speaker 1: They were going at Steph literally every single time down

634
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:15,840
Speaker 1: the floor. It's a big part of how teams look

635
00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:18,760
Speaker 1: to attack the Golden State Warriors, But at the same

636
00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:22,680
Speaker 1: time they can anchor him with four really good defensive

637
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:25,040
Speaker 1: players that are switchable, that can cover a ton of ground,

638
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:26,920
Speaker 1: that sort of thing, and so I look at them

639
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:29,000
Speaker 1: as a team that I think just matches up better

640
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:32,000
Speaker 1: defensively with those two teams. Now to be clear, in

641
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:34,600
Speaker 1: order for Golden State to make any sort of real noise,

642
00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:37,480
Speaker 1: I think one Steph has to return to at least

643
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,000
Speaker 1: close to what he was when he was in his prime,

644
00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:42,520
Speaker 1: which he has not shown since the middle of last season.

645
00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:45,000
Speaker 1: And then two, I think that they do need to

646
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:48,040
Speaker 1: hit on a consolidation trade, something that shrinks their rotation

647
00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:52,080
Speaker 1: from having thirteen playable guys to maybe ten or eleven,

648
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,400
Speaker 1: but you have an upgrade at backup center, or you

649
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:57,920
Speaker 1: have a foward that can really score the ball. And

650
00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:00,000
Speaker 1: by the way, this is the year for that. Between

651
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,480
Speaker 1: Brandon Ingram being a guy that could be available, between

652
00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:04,800
Speaker 1: Jeremy Grant being a guy that could be available, between

653
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:06,920
Speaker 1: Zach Lavine being a guy that could be available, like,

654
00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:09,040
Speaker 1: there are just a lot of guys that could be

655
00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:12,440
Speaker 1: available this year at the three to four spot as

656
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,640
Speaker 1: someone who's like reliably capable of scoring twenty plus points

657
00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:19,400
Speaker 1: a game efficiently. And so I think, like on a

658
00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:23,200
Speaker 1: real basic level, I just don't think Cleveland is capable

659
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:25,800
Speaker 1: of beating Boston, Like I think there's like almost no

660
00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,640
Speaker 1: pathway to victory there, whereas with Golden State, I can

661
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:32,880
Speaker 1: kind of see like switching, containing, forcing turnovers, stagnating them. Oh,

662
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 1: they hit on a couple of deals too, so they've

663
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:37,360
Speaker 1: got a little bit more firepower. And Steph Curry just

664
00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:40,200
Speaker 1: kind of, you know, mentally dominates the series the way

665
00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:42,840
Speaker 1: that he did in twenty twenty two. But again, to

666
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:45,480
Speaker 1: be clear, I would not pick either of those teams

667
00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:47,880
Speaker 1: against Boston or Oklahoma City. I think they're on a

668
00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:50,160
Speaker 1: separate tier. But if I had to pick between the

669
00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:52,520
Speaker 1: two of them, I think Golden State kind of has

670
00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:56,960
Speaker 1: a unique build that could challenge those two teams. Moving

671
00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,719
Speaker 1: on to our biggest disappointment. So the two biggest disappointments

672
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:01,280
Speaker 1: to start the NBA season have been the Bucks and

673
00:32:01,280 --> 00:32:03,760
Speaker 1: the Nuggets. The Nuggets are four and three, but they've

674
00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:07,000
Speaker 1: lost to every good team they've played, and they barely

675
00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:10,600
Speaker 1: scraped together three wins against two against Toronto and one

676
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:13,560
Speaker 1: against Brooklyn, so they've looked really bad to.

677
00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:14,120
Speaker 2: Start the year.

678
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:16,560
Speaker 1: And then obviously the Bucks have been a complete and

679
00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:19,680
Speaker 1: total dumpster fire and there's a good chance here that

680
00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:21,600
Speaker 1: because they play the Jazz next, but then they play

681
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:23,880
Speaker 1: the Nicks and the Celtics, there's a decent chance here.

682
00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:26,200
Speaker 1: We're looking at a two and eight Bucks team here

683
00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:30,360
Speaker 1: in about a week and so it's been really ugly.

684
00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:34,080
Speaker 1: Which of those two teams, Carson, do you think is

685
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:38,520
Speaker 1: more likely to figure things out and end up winning

686
00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:39,760
Speaker 1: multiple playoff series?

687
00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:41,160
Speaker 4: Absolutely?

688
00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:45,320
Speaker 3: Denver, And I get people lumping these two teams together

689
00:32:45,560 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 3: as like, whoa super disappointing concerning Oh, they have both

690
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:50,720
Speaker 3: been disappointing.

691
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:53,400
Speaker 4: Yeah, they've both struggled, But I.

692
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:57,000
Speaker 3: Think that what's going on in Milwaukee is more concerning,

693
00:32:57,080 --> 00:32:59,880
Speaker 3: unequivocally and more permanent to me. I just think that

694
00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:03,240
Speaker 3: their defense is irreparably broken, and that was the case

695
00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:05,320
Speaker 3: last year, and I think that that remains the case

696
00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:08,280
Speaker 3: this year. I'm not worried about the offense with Milwaukee.

697
00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:11,360
Speaker 3: Their offense was great last year. You swap out Malik

698
00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:13,720
Speaker 3: Beasley for Gary Trent Junior, right, you still got elite

699
00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:16,440
Speaker 3: spot up shooting there. You have Damon Jannis and you

700
00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:19,480
Speaker 3: get Chris Middleton on the floor, super skilled offensive group.

701
00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:22,320
Speaker 3: I'm not sure they can be a top twenty defense, though,

702
00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:26,480
Speaker 3: and that is bad and you have zero hope of contending.

703
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:27,400
Speaker 4: If that is the case.

704
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:32,280
Speaker 3: They are just embarrassingly unathletic around Jannis, and they're embarrassingly

705
00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:35,880
Speaker 3: unfocused around Jannis. The point of attack defense is a

706
00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:38,720
Speaker 3: complete disaster. We knew that was a case. I thought

707
00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:41,680
Speaker 3: we might see marginal improvement, getting Gary Trent Junior in

708
00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:44,400
Speaker 3: there and getting Delawn Wright some bench minutes, but hasn't

709
00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:46,760
Speaker 3: looked better at all. And I just think these defensive

710
00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:50,880
Speaker 3: problems are endemic to them now. Nothing has gotten better

711
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:53,600
Speaker 3: from last year for Milwaukee. This is who they are.

712
00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:56,000
Speaker 3: And I thought we might see some slight improvement on

713
00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:58,760
Speaker 3: that end. And then I was optimistic about a bit

714
00:33:58,760 --> 00:34:00,520
Speaker 3: of a Dame bounce back. And I think that we're

715
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:02,760
Speaker 3: seeing a bit of a Dame bounce back. That just

716
00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:06,800
Speaker 3: doesn't matter. You can have this overwhelming duo if you

717
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:09,960
Speaker 3: are this bad in this unserious on the defensive end,

718
00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:12,240
Speaker 3: and this poorly coached, by the way, I'm not worried

719
00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:15,120
Speaker 3: about the offense, but there are still these stretches just

720
00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:18,640
Speaker 3: in terms of the offensive direction where they feel aimless

721
00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:22,839
Speaker 3: and they feel a bit disjointed. I'm just out on Milwaukee.

722
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:24,279
Speaker 3: I thought that they would be a little bit better

723
00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:26,160
Speaker 3: than last year. They were still my fourth team in

724
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:29,200
Speaker 3: the East. But now you hold them up against a Cleveland,

725
00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:32,279
Speaker 3: I take Cleveland, you hold them up against maybe a

726
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:36,080
Speaker 3: healthy Orlando. Like I don't want to undersell that things

727
00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:38,640
Speaker 3: will get better. Of course, they are missing one of

728
00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:41,440
Speaker 3: their best players, and they do have Damon Giannis, but

729
00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:44,680
Speaker 3: this is a permanent, major problem that they have that

730
00:34:44,800 --> 00:34:47,839
Speaker 3: I don't think is getting better. On the flip side

731
00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:51,040
Speaker 3: with Denver, yes, there are some things that aren't going

732
00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:54,320
Speaker 3: to get better, the biggest one being the bench unless

733
00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:56,880
Speaker 3: they make a move, unless they're able to add a

734
00:34:56,920 --> 00:35:00,960
Speaker 3: bench shooter. But clearly that unit has stro buggled mightily.

735
00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:04,839
Speaker 3: The backup center situation is disastrous. There's a clear lack

736
00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,680
Speaker 3: of shooting in the second unit. And Russ, who's now

737
00:35:07,760 --> 00:35:10,480
Speaker 3: been starting the last couple games with Jamal Murray hurt.

738
00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,600
Speaker 3: But he was brutal early in the year, and he's

739
00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:17,440
Speaker 3: had a couple nice games, but he's still shooting twenty

740
00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:19,520
Speaker 3: nine percent on the year right and there's been some

741
00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:22,759
Speaker 3: catastrophic decision making from him. I do think that he's

742
00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:24,440
Speaker 3: going to play better, though, I think that he's a

743
00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:27,000
Speaker 3: clear upgrade from Reggie Jackson last year, just with what

744
00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:29,840
Speaker 3: he brings athletically, what he can do defensively, what he

745
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:33,000
Speaker 3: can do pushing the tempo and transition and playmaking. The

746
00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:36,600
Speaker 3: bench will remain bad, but as I have said countless

747
00:35:36,600 --> 00:35:39,719
Speaker 3: times this year now, Denver's bench was bad last year.

748
00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:43,359
Speaker 3: Denver's bench has been consistently bad in the Jokic era,

749
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,359
Speaker 3: with the exception of the title team right because they

750
00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:49,239
Speaker 3: had Bruce Brown and Christian Brown was able to step

751
00:35:49,239 --> 00:35:50,920
Speaker 3: a bit bit in that run. It still wasn't a

752
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:53,560
Speaker 3: very good bench though, like that's always been a struggle

753
00:35:53,600 --> 00:35:53,919
Speaker 3: for them.

754
00:35:54,239 --> 00:35:55,560
Speaker 4: The strength of this team.

755
00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:59,360
Speaker 3: Has always been will always be having the best player

756
00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:02,080
Speaker 3: on the planet and having an elite starting five. And

757
00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:05,720
Speaker 3: although I think that KCP is better than Christian Brown,

758
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:09,279
Speaker 3: and I think he brings one specifically important thing for

759
00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:11,879
Speaker 3: this offense, which is one of the lowest volume three

760
00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:14,560
Speaker 3: point shooting teams in basketball, which was that he could

761
00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:17,240
Speaker 3: reliably step into five threes a game and make forty

762
00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:20,359
Speaker 3: percent of them. Christian Brown shooting the ball efficiently this year,

763
00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:23,040
Speaker 3: but he's attempting under three threes a night and just

764
00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:26,080
Speaker 3: effectively for spacing. It's not the same impact. We know

765
00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:28,600
Speaker 3: that he's getting more confident, but he is still more

766
00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:31,319
Speaker 3: hesitant to take those shots. But I think Christian Brown

767
00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:33,279
Speaker 3: is a dog. I mean, I think he's a really

768
00:36:33,280 --> 00:36:36,920
Speaker 3: good basketball player. It's just that one aspect, the shooting

769
00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:40,440
Speaker 3: that is a question mark. But athletically defensively in transition,

770
00:36:40,640 --> 00:36:43,799
Speaker 3: as a cutter, as a rebounder for his size, like,

771
00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:45,680
Speaker 3: the dude just makes impact plays.

772
00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:47,480
Speaker 4: So then you look at.

773
00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:49,800
Speaker 3: Some of the other causes of their early season struggles

774
00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:52,839
Speaker 3: and it's like they've been pretty unserious on the defensive end, right,

775
00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:54,920
Speaker 3: they haven't been engaged there. Do I think that that

776
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:56,800
Speaker 3: is permanently the case for Denver.

777
00:36:57,000 --> 00:36:57,160
Speaker 5: No.

778
00:36:57,280 --> 00:36:59,359
Speaker 3: We saw the level they defended at in the title run.

779
00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:01,919
Speaker 3: We saw them together a top ten defense last year.

780
00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:04,920
Speaker 3: I don't think KCP to Christian Brown is a significant

781
00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:08,840
Speaker 3: downgrade on the defensive end. They've just been unfocused and

782
00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:11,279
Speaker 3: they've been lazy on the defensive end. I think that

783
00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:14,040
Speaker 3: that is going to get better. Jamal Murray horrible so

784
00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:16,680
Speaker 3: far this year, and now he's hurt. I understand that

785
00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:19,440
Speaker 3: he's been struggling for a good chunk of a calendar

786
00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:21,799
Speaker 3: year now and that the playoffs were horrible and the

787
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:25,040
Speaker 3: Olympics were horrible. I still think he's going to bounce back,

788
00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:26,839
Speaker 3: and for the playoffs in the Olympics, I do think

789
00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:29,279
Speaker 3: the calf injury was a significant factor there. I think

790
00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:31,120
Speaker 3: we're going to get a better version of Jamal Murray

791
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:33,719
Speaker 3: as this year goes on. So it's like last game

792
00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:35,719
Speaker 3: they have to play without Aaron Gordon, right he gets

793
00:37:35,800 --> 00:37:38,280
Speaker 3: hurt just a few minutes into it. MPJ was really

794
00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:41,080
Speaker 3: struggling early in the year. He's now playing a good

795
00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:44,480
Speaker 3: bit better. But I believe in that starting five. I

796
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:48,520
Speaker 3: love their offensive formula. I think that the Jamal Jokic

797
00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:50,520
Speaker 3: two man game is still the best in basketball. I

798
00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:52,840
Speaker 3: think Aaron Gordon is a phenomenal fitness offense in the

799
00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:55,720
Speaker 3: dunker spot. MPJ is an elite spot up shooter. Christian

800
00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:58,680
Speaker 3: Brown is good enough offensively to still make this an

801
00:37:58,719 --> 00:37:59,480
Speaker 3: elite offense.

802
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,279
Speaker 4: And just don't underestimate Nikole Yolkic. Man is kind of

803
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:02,879
Speaker 4: all I can say.

804
00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:05,560
Speaker 3: He's giving you thirty thirteen and ten out there on

805
00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:09,200
Speaker 3: sixty five percent true shooting. His three ball has come back,

806
00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:12,440
Speaker 3: which is big because that was a question throughout the

807
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:14,719
Speaker 3: home stretch of last year, and I still think that

808
00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:18,279
Speaker 3: that is just an unrivaled weapon that no team has

809
00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:20,879
Speaker 3: an answer for. So, as we talked about earlier, ok

810
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:24,239
Speaker 3: See has separated from Denver. Nobody else has, though, And

811
00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:26,920
Speaker 3: I've seen a lot of ringing the alarm bells and

812
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:29,040
Speaker 3: panicking with Denver and saying this team is going to

813
00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:31,440
Speaker 3: be scrapping to make it into the playoffs, which I

814
00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:34,200
Speaker 3: understand because every game has been so ugly. But I

815
00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:36,239
Speaker 3: think this team is going to look significantly better. I

816
00:38:36,239 --> 00:38:38,960
Speaker 3: still think it's a great starting five. And look around, like,

817
00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:42,040
Speaker 3: has Minnesota really impressed you? Has Dallas really impressed you?

818
00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:42,239
Speaker 2: Right?

819
00:38:42,280 --> 00:38:44,239
Speaker 3: These other teams you would have thought were in the mix,

820
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:46,400
Speaker 3: have they ascended past Denver?

821
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:46,840
Speaker 4: Not?

822
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:48,759
Speaker 3: In my eyes, I'm gonna bet on the formula with

823
00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:51,160
Speaker 3: that starting five. I'm gonna bet on the formula with

824
00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:53,839
Speaker 3: Nikola Jokic, and I think that they have a good

825
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:58,080
Speaker 3: bit more room for improvements to look better than Milwaukee does.

826
00:38:58,840 --> 00:39:02,520
Speaker 6: Shocker, the pro Yoky gives a pro Jokic drop again,

827
00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:07,400
Speaker 6: I'm so surprised. I think the Nuggets are flawed as well,

828
00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:10,200
Speaker 6: and I think the game that really hammered it home

829
00:39:10,239 --> 00:39:12,000
Speaker 6: to me was the Nets game. We talked about this

830
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:15,919
Speaker 6: a little bit on our show, Carson, But watching Cam

831
00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:19,240
Speaker 6: Thomas and Dennis Schroeder just attack Jamal Murray and crunch

832
00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:22,480
Speaker 6: time like That's my biggest area of concern with the

833
00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:25,399
Speaker 6: Nuggets is just you can only put Christian Brown on

834
00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:28,800
Speaker 6: one guy, and I really worry about them containing dribble

835
00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:34,080
Speaker 6: penetration and just holding up defensively, but not to not.

836
00:39:34,120 --> 00:39:34,759
Speaker 5: To pile on.

837
00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:37,719
Speaker 6: But Nikola Jokicic did carry a team to the second

838
00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:40,719
Speaker 6: round in twenty twenty one, flanked by Fakundo Compazo and

839
00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:43,080
Speaker 6: Austin Rivers. So if there is a guy that I'm

840
00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:47,560
Speaker 6: gonna bank on, you know, going further with his supporting

841
00:39:47,560 --> 00:39:50,120
Speaker 6: cast underperforming, it would be Nicola Jokic. And I do

842
00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:53,160
Speaker 6: think the Bucks are a dumpster fire. I found this

843
00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:57,719
Speaker 6: stat on Twitter. The Bucks have started one in six

844
00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:00,000
Speaker 6: of teams that have started one in six in a seat,

845
00:40:00,200 --> 00:40:02,880
Speaker 6: and that's one hundred and fifty NBA team since nineteen seventy.

846
00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:05,759
Speaker 6: Just twelve of them made the playoffs, five of them

847
00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:08,359
Speaker 6: had a losing record, and none of those teams won

848
00:40:08,400 --> 00:40:10,440
Speaker 6: more than forty seven games. So the Bucks are fighting

849
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:13,319
Speaker 6: and uphill battle against a.

850
00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:14,680
Speaker 5: Pretty significant historical precedent.

851
00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:18,120
Speaker 6: And you look at these last two losses against Cleveland Man,

852
00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:20,880
Speaker 6: back to back losses, you lose by three combined points.

853
00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:21,520
Speaker 5: It feels like.

854
00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:25,360
Speaker 6: Almost like a turning point for the Bucks in this season,

855
00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:27,200
Speaker 6: right if they come out on the other side of

856
00:40:27,239 --> 00:40:30,160
Speaker 6: those games. Those are decided by a few possessions three

857
00:40:30,200 --> 00:40:33,480
Speaker 6: total points. One shot goes the other way on both sides,

858
00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:35,520
Speaker 6: and the Bucks could have won both of those games.

859
00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:38,719
Speaker 6: They're just demoralizing that. You know, you've just got to

860
00:40:38,719 --> 00:40:42,160
Speaker 6: feel so beat down after those games. Damian Lillard, give

861
00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:43,960
Speaker 6: you thirty six and forty one in both of those

862
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:46,880
Speaker 6: games and you come up short. Carson, I can't remember

863
00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:48,920
Speaker 6: how you phrased it, but I also wrote down this

864
00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:53,800
Speaker 6: team is impressively unathletic, like it's kind of funny and Jason,

865
00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:56,799
Speaker 6: you talked about earlier in the show, how the game

866
00:40:56,840 --> 00:41:00,480
Speaker 6: is shifted to these speedy teams, these athletic teams that

867
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:03,960
Speaker 6: play fast, they play upbeat games that keep you in games.

868
00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:08,600
Speaker 6: The Bucks almost feel like a dinosaur in that way.

869
00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:12,200
Speaker 6: In four years, their style of playing basketball in the

870
00:41:12,239 --> 00:41:16,120
Speaker 6: way he is almost gone extinct, Like they just can't

871
00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:20,719
Speaker 6: win like this. Brook Lopez is completely immobile. He's a

872
00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:24,880
Speaker 6: shell of himself. You got AJ Green defending Darius Garland

873
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:28,520
Speaker 6: in crunch time. Ironically, AJ Green might be their best

874
00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:29,400
Speaker 6: perimeter defender.

875
00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:30,759
Speaker 5: Guys, that's a problem.

876
00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:35,040
Speaker 6: Like you talk about the late game, like miscommunications, Dude,

877
00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:37,959
Speaker 6: there's one bucket in that game where I can't remember.

878
00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:41,480
Speaker 6: Somebody sets a screen on AJ Green. Damian Lillard does

879
00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:43,720
Speaker 6: not even shift over to switch, and they give Darius

880
00:41:43,719 --> 00:41:45,720
Speaker 6: Garland a free lane to the hoop for a free layup.

881
00:41:45,800 --> 00:41:50,120
Speaker 6: It's like there's defensive personnel limitations obviously, but this is

882
00:41:50,160 --> 00:41:53,480
Speaker 6: a team that's poorly coached, that is just not equipped

883
00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:56,400
Speaker 6: to win games right now. The depth is horrible, And

884
00:41:56,480 --> 00:41:58,600
Speaker 6: I understand that Chris Middleton is out right. I think

885
00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:01,120
Speaker 6: that's what I guess bucks fan would push back with, Oh, well,

886
00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:03,799
Speaker 6: Chris Middleton isn't out there. Chris Middleton can come back

887
00:42:03,800 --> 00:42:05,600
Speaker 6: and help you win some games, but he doesn't fix

888
00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:09,080
Speaker 6: all of the problems that are here in Milwaukee. Yeah,

889
00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:11,560
Speaker 6: I'm out on Milwaukee. I've been on out on Milwaukee

890
00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:13,960
Speaker 6: since they hired Doc Rivers. He's twenty and thirty as

891
00:42:13,960 --> 00:42:16,879
Speaker 6: a head coach. Adrian Griffin was thirty and thirteen don't

892
00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:18,680
Speaker 6: get me wrong. Man, if Adrian Griffin was out here,

893
00:42:18,719 --> 00:42:20,280
Speaker 6: I don't think that makes any bit of a difference.

894
00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:25,040
Speaker 6: But they're poorly coached. This is a bad roster. And yeah,

895
00:42:25,160 --> 00:42:28,600
Speaker 6: as you're talking about with the stylistical change in basketball now, Jason,

896
00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:32,400
Speaker 6: this shift to a different methodology of winning games, I

897
00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:33,640
Speaker 6: think the Bucks are extinct.

898
00:42:33,760 --> 00:42:36,839
Speaker 5: They just feel like a relic of a bygone era.

899
00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:42,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would blame the coaching staff for a good

900
00:42:42,239 --> 00:42:47,040
Speaker 1: portion of Milwaukee's issues right now. The defensive personnel stuff

901
00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:53,000
Speaker 1: is real. But I've seen bad defenses, or I should say,

902
00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:56,480
Speaker 1: I should clarify, I've seen teams that have bad defensive

903
00:42:56,520 --> 00:43:01,160
Speaker 1: personnel put together coherent defenses through attention to detail and accountability.

904
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:05,080
Speaker 1: And that's the main thing you talked about. The driving

905
00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:07,439
Speaker 1: lay at that Darius Garland had on that screening action.

906
00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:11,040
Speaker 1: You could put together a low light reel that is

907
00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:13,760
Speaker 1: over an hour long to this point of the season

908
00:43:14,120 --> 00:43:18,080
Speaker 1: on like just comical defensive breakdowns from the Milwaukee Bucks,

909
00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:22,439
Speaker 1: even including good players. I think Brook Lopez is having

910
00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:24,920
Speaker 1: a bad defensive season. I think Giannis is having a

911
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:28,040
Speaker 1: bad defensive season. Delon Wright is a professional defender. The

912
00:43:28,120 --> 00:43:30,080
Speaker 1: dude's got like a low light reel of him making

913
00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:33,200
Speaker 1: mistakes and losing guys off the dribble. Like there, Gary

914
00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:37,080
Speaker 1: Trent Junior was legitimately a better even with his limitations

915
00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:38,800
Speaker 1: and he's not a good perimeter defender, but he was

916
00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:41,680
Speaker 1: better than Malik Beasley, and he hasn't been good to

917
00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:44,440
Speaker 1: start this year, and so I think, like I think

918
00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:47,680
Speaker 1: the coaching staff plays a significant role in it. I

919
00:43:47,719 --> 00:43:50,920
Speaker 1: think for the purposes of the question, which team do

920
00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:52,600
Speaker 1: I think is more likely to figure it out and

921
00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:57,359
Speaker 1: win multiple playoff series? I think I'd probably lean towards Milwaukee,

922
00:43:57,440 --> 00:44:00,480
Speaker 1: just simply because the East is so bad and so

923
00:44:00,719 --> 00:44:03,880
Speaker 1: like there's a better chance of them like catching a

924
00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:06,920
Speaker 1: pretty flawed team in the first round and maybe beating

925
00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:10,280
Speaker 1: them and then who knows what happens in round two, Whereas,

926
00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:14,520
Speaker 1: like Denver, to me, right now, I think they could

927
00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:17,880
Speaker 1: be in a tough spot in the standings because of

928
00:44:17,880 --> 00:44:20,919
Speaker 1: the way the West works, with Aaron Gordon being out

929
00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:24,560
Speaker 1: for a while now, with Jamal Murray being hurt, with

930
00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:27,480
Speaker 1: their issues on the bench, I think they're going to

931
00:44:27,520 --> 00:44:29,640
Speaker 1: have a really hard time winning games over the next

932
00:44:29,640 --> 00:44:33,560
Speaker 1: month or so. And if they're if they go into

933
00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:38,600
Speaker 1: they go into December, a few games below five hundred,

934
00:44:39,320 --> 00:44:42,319
Speaker 1: it could be really really difficult for them to get

935
00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:46,640
Speaker 1: out of that play in picture, and that's where it

936
00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:48,880
Speaker 1: starts to look like, Okay, are they going to end

937
00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:53,640
Speaker 1: up facing Oklahoma City or one of these higher powered

938
00:44:53,680 --> 00:44:57,319
Speaker 1: Western Conference teams in the first round or that could

939
00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:00,960
Speaker 1: be an issue, whereas like Milwaukee could end up catching

940
00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:03,160
Speaker 1: somebody that's a little more beatable in the first round.

941
00:45:03,239 --> 00:45:05,439
Speaker 1: And so to be clear, I think Denver's a better

942
00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:06,960
Speaker 1: basketball team than Milwaukee.

943
00:45:07,280 --> 00:45:11,080
Speaker 2: I think I like, I've.

944
00:45:10,040 --> 00:45:12,440
Speaker 1: Never been as high on Giannis as everyone else is,

945
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:16,920
Speaker 1: but even with Yannis, like, I think that we're reaching

946
00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:20,280
Speaker 1: a point in his career where he's not as incredibly

947
00:45:20,360 --> 00:45:22,600
Speaker 1: impactful on the defensive end as he used to be,

948
00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:27,120
Speaker 1: and I still on the offensive end, I just think

949
00:45:27,160 --> 00:45:29,080
Speaker 1: that he's not at the same level as some of

950
00:45:29,080 --> 00:45:31,520
Speaker 1: these top guys in terms of really picking defenses apart

951
00:45:31,600 --> 00:45:34,640
Speaker 1: in the half court. Again, Giannis is still top five player.

952
00:45:34,640 --> 00:45:36,520
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to say that he doesn't bring that impact,

953
00:45:36,560 --> 00:45:38,720
Speaker 1: But like, I just think Denver's better. I think Yoki

954
00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:40,680
Speaker 1: is better. I think that their starting lineup is better.

955
00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:43,040
Speaker 1: I think they're more well coached. I would take Mike

956
00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:45,680
Speaker 1: Malone over Doc Rivers any day of the week. So like,

957
00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:49,480
Speaker 1: but just for the purposes of the question, I'm really

958
00:45:49,520 --> 00:45:51,480
Speaker 1: worried that Denver is going to be on the road

959
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:53,719
Speaker 1: in the first round against a really good team and

960
00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:55,799
Speaker 1: that they could be looking at a first round exit here.

961
00:45:56,280 --> 00:45:57,680
Speaker 1: But then again, you could also talk me into the

962
00:45:57,680 --> 00:46:00,000
Speaker 1: Bucks missing the playoffs entirely with how ugly things are going.

963
00:46:01,480 --> 00:46:03,920
Speaker 3: Point is a good one with Denver though, because this

964
00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:06,120
Speaker 3: is one of the teams it's least equipped in all

965
00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:09,200
Speaker 3: of basketball to handle injuries to two of their starters, right, Like,

966
00:46:09,239 --> 00:46:11,480
Speaker 3: that's the entire formula, and if you're without both those

967
00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:15,080
Speaker 3: dudes for multiple weeks, that's a problem. Like, we saw

968
00:46:15,120 --> 00:46:17,000
Speaker 3: some good stuff from the young guys in their last game.

969
00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:20,319
Speaker 3: Julian Strauther was impressive. Peyton Watson was good. He was

970
00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:22,839
Speaker 3: actually able to make a three, which is everything for him.

971
00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:26,440
Speaker 3: If he pick three, big three, wide open, but big three,

972
00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:28,560
Speaker 3: like high pressure. If he could do that, he'd be

973
00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:30,440
Speaker 3: a hell of a role player. It's just unfortunately I

974
00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:32,799
Speaker 3: don't think that he can with any sort of consistency.

975
00:46:33,560 --> 00:46:35,560
Speaker 3: And it's tough because, like I feel like the Nuggets

976
00:46:35,560 --> 00:46:37,959
Speaker 3: were starting to figure out some stuff with the bench

977
00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:41,040
Speaker 3: stagger right, playing mpjmore with the second unit, and even

978
00:46:41,200 --> 00:46:44,360
Speaker 3: playing Yolkic with like sort of a mixed group.

979
00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:46,800
Speaker 4: But like when.

980
00:46:46,640 --> 00:46:49,520
Speaker 3: Aaron Gordon and Jamal Murray are both that out, you

981
00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:52,880
Speaker 3: just need a Yolkic superhero performance every night, which I

982
00:46:52,920 --> 00:46:55,640
Speaker 3: do think is possible. But that is true in terms

983
00:46:55,680 --> 00:46:58,360
Speaker 3: of the seating, Like I think a lot of people

984
00:46:58,960 --> 00:47:02,040
Speaker 3: overreacted in panic to the early stretch of the year

985
00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:04,759
Speaker 3: because like Jokic just gets you to win fifty games, right,

986
00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:06,960
Speaker 3: That's what he did in twenty twenty one. That's the

987
00:47:07,000 --> 00:47:08,680
Speaker 3: pace they were on in twenty twenty two when he

988
00:47:08,760 --> 00:47:12,399
Speaker 3: was on the floor. But the depth is not something

989
00:47:12,440 --> 00:47:14,680
Speaker 3: you want to be tested like this in Denver.

990
00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:18,279
Speaker 1: And the depth of the conference is greater than at

991
00:47:18,280 --> 00:47:21,839
Speaker 1: this point. Like I mean, like Houston's just a pain

992
00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:23,320
Speaker 1: in the butt. I don't think Houston's went in a

993
00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:25,879
Speaker 1: playoff series, but they're pain in the butt, Like San

994
00:47:25,880 --> 00:47:29,160
Speaker 1: Antonio is scrappy just because of Victor Women. Yama is

995
00:47:29,160 --> 00:47:30,640
Speaker 1: starting to get it figured out and he's just such

996
00:47:30,640 --> 00:47:33,600
Speaker 1: a good defensive player, Like everyone is just scrappy. The

997
00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:37,120
Speaker 1: Clippers are not an easy game. Like the Clippers. It's

998
00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:39,520
Speaker 1: like they're gonna defend like crazy and James Harden's going

999
00:47:39,600 --> 00:47:41,480
Speaker 1: to keep them close and who knows what will happen

1000
00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:43,839
Speaker 1: at the end, right Like they've been in They've been

1001
00:47:43,880 --> 00:47:47,120
Speaker 1: in almost every game this year, so like, yeah, it's

1002
00:47:47,600 --> 00:47:49,719
Speaker 1: it's it's just tricky. But again, like that for the

1003
00:47:49,719 --> 00:47:52,880
Speaker 1: purposes of the question, though, like the Eastern Conference just

1004
00:47:52,920 --> 00:47:56,319
Speaker 1: has so many cupcake opponents. I wouldn't be surprised if

1005
00:47:56,520 --> 00:48:01,440
Speaker 1: if a Milwaukee gained some momentum and themselves selves in

1006
00:48:01,520 --> 00:48:03,520
Speaker 1: like a four or five six seed and finds themselves

1007
00:48:03,560 --> 00:48:19,880
Speaker 1: with an achievable first round matchup. All right, let's move

1008
00:48:19,880 --> 00:48:21,880
Speaker 1: on to our next question, and we'll start with you,

1009
00:48:22,000 --> 00:48:24,280
Speaker 1: Carson on this one. Are sitting with Logan on this one?

1010
00:48:24,320 --> 00:48:26,560
Speaker 1: Who is more likely to make a deep playoff run

1011
00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:29,720
Speaker 1: this year? The Dallas Mavericks or the Los Angeles Lakers.

1012
00:48:31,320 --> 00:48:32,680
Speaker 5: I'm gonna take the Mavericks.

1013
00:48:33,400 --> 00:48:37,239
Speaker 6: I like the Lakers a good bit more than I

1014
00:48:37,239 --> 00:48:39,239
Speaker 6: did last year, and it starts with the coaching, Like

1015
00:48:39,280 --> 00:48:42,560
Speaker 6: I just like JJ Reddicks so much more than Darvin

1016
00:48:42,640 --> 00:48:47,000
Speaker 6: Ham like just the they're the little stuff in their offense.

1017
00:48:47,040 --> 00:48:49,600
Speaker 6: Man like the deliberate offensive actions that the Lakers are

1018
00:48:49,640 --> 00:48:52,239
Speaker 6: running late into games. I can't remember which one it

1019
00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:54,960
Speaker 6: was the other day, but they dumped the ball to

1020
00:48:55,040 --> 00:48:58,520
Speaker 6: Lebron on the left wing in like a post up

1021
00:48:58,560 --> 00:49:02,080
Speaker 6: sort of situation, and Anthony Davis sets a pin down

1022
00:49:02,120 --> 00:49:04,160
Speaker 6: screen for Austin Reeves to run off of for an

1023
00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:06,160
Speaker 6: easy cut to the bucket and basket. And it's like,

1024
00:49:07,239 --> 00:49:10,400
Speaker 6: oh my gosh, who knew that using three players in

1025
00:49:10,440 --> 00:49:12,960
Speaker 6: a play could create a you know, could manufacture an

1026
00:49:12,960 --> 00:49:13,520
Speaker 6: easy look?

1027
00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:14,440
Speaker 5: What an idea?

1028
00:49:15,200 --> 00:49:18,880
Speaker 6: There's so many more deliberate and like nuance. There's so

1029
00:49:18,960 --> 00:49:21,640
Speaker 6: much more like deliberate actions to the offense and nuance

1030
00:49:21,719 --> 00:49:25,200
Speaker 6: to it that I like more. I love Dalton Connect.

1031
00:49:25,200 --> 00:49:29,120
Speaker 6: That dude is a freaking bucket, Like real.

1032
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:31,160
Speaker 5: Quick, isn't a side? But before I get deeper into this,

1033
00:49:31,200 --> 00:49:31,840
Speaker 5: do you guys.

1034
00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:34,279
Speaker 6: Think Dalton Connect with like enough minutes, could he be

1035
00:49:34,400 --> 00:49:36,400
Speaker 6: like a twenty point per game score?

1036
00:49:36,560 --> 00:49:40,680
Speaker 3: Is that ludicrous to say enough minutes for the Washington Wizards?

1037
00:49:40,680 --> 00:49:40,919
Speaker 4: Maybe?

1038
00:49:40,960 --> 00:49:41,279
Speaker 5: All right?

1039
00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:43,120
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, you know how you seed him?

1040
00:49:43,200 --> 00:49:45,239
Speaker 1: I think I think Dalton could average twenty in the NBA.

1041
00:49:45,239 --> 00:49:47,359
Speaker 1: I think he's I think he's a professional scorer. I

1042
00:49:47,400 --> 00:49:50,680
Speaker 1: think that he's a long way from being like good

1043
00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:52,160
Speaker 1: enough to do that on a good team.

1044
00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:54,120
Speaker 6: Though true, I think I agree with that, but that

1045
00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:57,120
Speaker 6: guy is just wired to get buckets man like he's

1046
00:49:57,320 --> 00:49:59,240
Speaker 6: He's such a good addition to this team.

1047
00:49:59,360 --> 00:50:01,120
Speaker 5: But my issue.

1048
00:50:00,960 --> 00:50:03,279
Speaker 6: Isn't really with the offense here in LA I think

1049
00:50:03,320 --> 00:50:05,640
Speaker 6: the offense is going to be good. Anthony Davis has

1050
00:50:05,640 --> 00:50:07,920
Speaker 6: been having a phenomenal year this year, but it's more

1051
00:50:07,960 --> 00:50:11,000
Speaker 6: to do with the herculean task than Anthony Davis has

1052
00:50:11,040 --> 00:50:13,640
Speaker 6: of being a one man defense here. I think that

1053
00:50:14,480 --> 00:50:17,240
Speaker 6: having d Loan Reeves is your point of attack guards

1054
00:50:17,280 --> 00:50:19,120
Speaker 6: defensively is a problem.

1055
00:50:19,320 --> 00:50:20,600
Speaker 5: I don't think Hotchi murrays.

1056
00:50:20,400 --> 00:50:23,640
Speaker 2: Boys absolutely fried to start the year.

1057
00:50:24,840 --> 00:50:28,880
Speaker 6: It's it's really rough, and so asking him to overcome

1058
00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:32,080
Speaker 6: that is a big ask. And you know Dallas is

1059
00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:33,880
Speaker 6: in a similar boat, like when you have Kyrie and

1060
00:50:33,960 --> 00:50:37,160
Speaker 6: Luca and Clay right, but it's not as bad. But

1061
00:50:37,200 --> 00:50:39,279
Speaker 6: when you have forty eight minutes of quality, you know,

1062
00:50:39,400 --> 00:50:41,640
Speaker 6: center play from Gaffer and Lively, they can make up

1063
00:50:41,640 --> 00:50:44,319
Speaker 6: for a defense. When you have a PJ. Washington, when

1064
00:50:44,360 --> 00:50:48,080
Speaker 6: you have a Naji Marshall. Right, So it's close between

1065
00:50:48,080 --> 00:50:51,399
Speaker 6: these two teams. The thing that puts the Mavericks over

1066
00:50:51,440 --> 00:50:54,000
Speaker 6: the top, to me is two things, and that's one.

1067
00:50:54,040 --> 00:50:56,000
Speaker 6: It's Luka Doncic. I mean, he's the best player on

1068
00:50:56,120 --> 00:50:58,840
Speaker 6: either of these two teams. I just trust him to

1069
00:50:58,920 --> 00:51:02,880
Speaker 6: go superhuman when his team needs him. The guy's just

1070
00:51:02,960 --> 00:51:05,480
Speaker 6: a gamer in the big moments. I trust him more

1071
00:51:05,480 --> 00:51:09,360
Speaker 6: than anybody on these two teams. Again, Okay, actually with Lebron,

1072
00:51:09,440 --> 00:51:10,640
Speaker 6: I don't know if I can still say. I know

1073
00:51:10,719 --> 00:51:12,560
Speaker 6: Lebron can crank it up when they needs to, but

1074
00:51:13,360 --> 00:51:16,000
Speaker 6: lucas special. And then it is the introduction to Klay Thompson,

1075
00:51:16,160 --> 00:51:18,799
Speaker 6: like the fact that he brings this offense up another

1076
00:51:18,880 --> 00:51:20,799
Speaker 6: level than it even was last year. Right, LUKEA and

1077
00:51:20,840 --> 00:51:24,520
Speaker 6: Kyrie could go crazy and take turns passing the baton

1078
00:51:24,640 --> 00:51:27,600
Speaker 6: between one another in the playoffs last year. But Clay

1079
00:51:27,719 --> 00:51:29,480
Speaker 6: just gives them a more steadying presence, a guy that

1080
00:51:29,520 --> 00:51:31,480
Speaker 6: can knock down shots at a high level that is

1081
00:51:31,520 --> 00:51:33,880
Speaker 6: going to get force fed really easy looks, and he

1082
00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:36,880
Speaker 6: just knows how to move within the flow of the offense.

1083
00:51:36,920 --> 00:51:38,319
Speaker 5: He's such a big addition to them.

1084
00:51:38,440 --> 00:51:41,440
Speaker 6: So it is close between these two teams, But to me,

1085
00:51:41,520 --> 00:51:45,080
Speaker 6: it's the defensive gap I just trust Dallas's defense a

1086
00:51:45,080 --> 00:51:48,400
Speaker 6: little more. I think LA just has two glaring liabilities

1087
00:51:49,000 --> 00:51:51,000
Speaker 6: in their defense, and then it is the introduction to

1088
00:51:51,040 --> 00:51:54,280
Speaker 6: Klay Thompson. So it's really close between these two teams,

1089
00:51:54,360 --> 00:51:56,160
Speaker 6: but I think I would take Dallas.

1090
00:51:57,239 --> 00:51:58,280
Speaker 4: I also think it's close.

1091
00:51:58,400 --> 00:52:01,080
Speaker 3: I would also take Dallas, though both these teams have

1092
00:52:01,160 --> 00:52:04,040
Speaker 3: a lot of offensive firepower. I'm with you Logan on

1093
00:52:04,080 --> 00:52:06,640
Speaker 3: the Lakers offense under JJ Redick. I think it's awesome.

1094
00:52:06,680 --> 00:52:08,719
Speaker 3: I think the level that Anthony Davis is playing at

1095
00:52:08,760 --> 00:52:12,800
Speaker 3: offensively is outstanding, and I do think that their offensive

1096
00:52:12,840 --> 00:52:15,360
Speaker 3: supporting cast is and always has been good.

1097
00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:15,600
Speaker 5: Right.

1098
00:52:15,680 --> 00:52:19,239
Speaker 3: The fact that Delo and Ruy shit themselves in the

1099
00:52:19,239 --> 00:52:21,600
Speaker 3: playoffs last year is not characteristic of the level of

1100
00:52:21,640 --> 00:52:23,960
Speaker 3: offensive players they are. I get that Delo has done

1101
00:52:23,960 --> 00:52:26,120
Speaker 3: it in back to back postseasons now, but like he

1102
00:52:26,200 --> 00:52:29,160
Speaker 3: was also a really really good regular season offensive player

1103
00:52:29,239 --> 00:52:33,160
Speaker 3: last year. He's frustrating what he is skilled and he's

1104
00:52:33,239 --> 00:52:34,120
Speaker 3: better than what.

1105
00:52:34,120 --> 00:52:36,040
Speaker 2: He was years ago.

1106
00:52:36,360 --> 00:52:37,160
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think.

1107
00:52:37,080 --> 00:52:39,840
Speaker 3: Rue is just a really good, complimentary offensive piece. It

1108
00:52:39,920 --> 00:52:42,200
Speaker 3: was crazy to me how awful he was against Denver

1109
00:52:42,320 --> 00:52:45,960
Speaker 3: last year. And both these teams have two bona fide

1110
00:52:46,120 --> 00:52:48,960
Speaker 3: stars in LA's case Superstars, Right, I get that Lebron

1111
00:52:49,040 --> 00:52:53,839
Speaker 3: isn't playing at that level right now, but come seasons, yeah,

1112
00:52:54,040 --> 00:52:55,560
Speaker 3: I think that he's going to get there. Right, It's

1113
00:52:55,600 --> 00:52:58,959
Speaker 3: Lebron James. We've seen what he's done in basically every

1114
00:52:59,040 --> 00:53:01,320
Speaker 3: high stake situation in every playoff series. We know that

1115
00:53:01,360 --> 00:53:03,560
Speaker 3: he can get to that level. So there's definitely some

1116
00:53:03,600 --> 00:53:06,960
Speaker 3: similarities in terms of the strengths. I just think I

1117
00:53:07,040 --> 00:53:10,480
Speaker 3: trust Dallas's defense and depth a bit more. I think

1118
00:53:10,520 --> 00:53:12,840
Speaker 3: both these teams have their issues at the point of attack.

1119
00:53:13,120 --> 00:53:16,160
Speaker 3: I think it is significantly worse with LA. I mean, Logan,

1120
00:53:16,239 --> 00:53:18,920
Speaker 3: you mentioned what you have with Reeves and Dilo right

1121
00:53:18,960 --> 00:53:21,440
Speaker 3: being your primary point of attack defenders, but Ruey is

1122
00:53:21,560 --> 00:53:25,960
Speaker 3: rough defensively, and the entire Lakers transition defense is just.

1123
00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:26,920
Speaker 4: Such a disaster.

1124
00:53:27,880 --> 00:53:31,000
Speaker 3: The entire defense around Anthony Davis is just really really rough,

1125
00:53:31,400 --> 00:53:34,280
Speaker 3: And like it's not surprising that they're bad in transition

1126
00:53:34,360 --> 00:53:38,000
Speaker 3: because they have been for years, but like it's brutal nonetheless,

1127
00:53:38,120 --> 00:53:42,200
Speaker 3: and all those limitations around AD aren't going anywhere unless

1128
00:53:42,200 --> 00:53:44,200
Speaker 3: they make a move. And I know that everybody says,

1129
00:53:44,200 --> 00:53:49,560
Speaker 3: well Vando, Vando comes back, He's still like unplayable offensively,

1130
00:53:49,600 --> 00:53:51,040
Speaker 3: I don't know. I just don't think that that's like

1131
00:53:51,120 --> 00:53:54,200
Speaker 3: the ace in the hole that some people think it is.

1132
00:53:54,880 --> 00:53:58,120
Speaker 3: And so, although I do have some concerns about Dallas's

1133
00:53:58,120 --> 00:54:00,840
Speaker 3: point of attack defense, they do have an Aie Marshall

1134
00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:03,160
Speaker 3: who you can deploy for twenty five minutes to night,

1135
00:54:03,160 --> 00:54:04,759
Speaker 3: who's a really good all around role player and a

1136
00:54:04,800 --> 00:54:08,440
Speaker 3: really good perimeter defender. And they do have PJ and

1137
00:54:08,760 --> 00:54:11,919
Speaker 3: Gafford slash lively for forty eight minutes in the front court.

1138
00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:15,560
Speaker 3: So you do have to be a better defensive front court.

1139
00:54:15,600 --> 00:54:17,960
Speaker 3: As much as I love Ad and Lebron will do

1140
00:54:18,200 --> 00:54:21,319
Speaker 3: his job as a low man in the playoffs, Like,

1141
00:54:21,360 --> 00:54:23,440
Speaker 3: I still think what you're getting from Dallas is definitely

1142
00:54:23,440 --> 00:54:26,440
Speaker 3: more consistent defensively. You have Maxi Kleebo, who you can

1143
00:54:26,440 --> 00:54:28,719
Speaker 3: put out there in your front court. Defensively, they just

1144
00:54:28,840 --> 00:54:31,880
Speaker 3: have more dudes there. And I have been underwhelmed with

1145
00:54:31,920 --> 00:54:34,919
Speaker 3: the Lakers bench. I looked at it on paper before

1146
00:54:34,960 --> 00:54:37,160
Speaker 3: the year and I was okay with it. I love

1147
00:54:37,280 --> 00:54:40,120
Speaker 3: Dalton connect I thought that he was the most polished

1148
00:54:40,160 --> 00:54:42,720
Speaker 3: scorer in this draft, and I think you've immediately seen

1149
00:54:42,960 --> 00:54:46,960
Speaker 3: that value from him. But I was more optimistic about

1150
00:54:47,080 --> 00:54:49,440
Speaker 3: Max Christi in terms of what he could bring as

1151
00:54:49,440 --> 00:54:52,720
Speaker 3: a two way player. He's really struggled offensively. Gabe Vincent

1152
00:54:52,760 --> 00:54:55,319
Speaker 3: has really struggled offensively. I think he'll get better, Right,

1153
00:54:55,360 --> 00:54:58,040
Speaker 3: we know what he is. He's a solid bench point guard.

1154
00:54:58,560 --> 00:55:01,480
Speaker 3: Jackson Hayes has actually probably a little better than I expected,

1155
00:55:01,680 --> 00:55:05,080
Speaker 3: but I just don't think that he's that good at

1156
00:55:05,080 --> 00:55:07,640
Speaker 3: the end of the day, So I've been underwhelmed with

1157
00:55:07,760 --> 00:55:08,240
Speaker 3: the bench.

1158
00:55:08,760 --> 00:55:10,480
Speaker 4: I do think it's possible that you just.

1159
00:55:10,480 --> 00:55:13,680
Speaker 3: Get a dominant AD series and Lebron steps it up

1160
00:55:13,680 --> 00:55:16,120
Speaker 3: and the shooting is on fire in La can go

1161
00:55:16,200 --> 00:55:18,880
Speaker 3: on a run. But I think Dallas's formula is a

1162
00:55:18,880 --> 00:55:22,640
Speaker 3: bit more dependable because they're more serious defensively, and now

1163
00:55:22,680 --> 00:55:27,160
Speaker 3: that offense with Clay is significantly more serious to me

1164
00:55:27,239 --> 00:55:29,879
Speaker 3: than it was last year. Right, They've really rode their

1165
00:55:29,920 --> 00:55:32,319
Speaker 3: defense on that run to the Finals in a lot

1166
00:55:32,360 --> 00:55:36,359
Speaker 3: of ways, and the spot up shooting was so so questionable.

1167
00:55:36,760 --> 00:55:39,480
Speaker 3: Clay alone is such a massive upgrade from what you

1168
00:55:39,480 --> 00:55:43,200
Speaker 3: were getting on the wings for Dallas last year. I

1169
00:55:43,480 --> 00:55:46,960
Speaker 3: don't think that they were your typical finals caliber team

1170
00:55:47,080 --> 00:55:49,279
Speaker 3: last year. So, like I do think it's important to

1171
00:55:49,320 --> 00:55:51,680
Speaker 3: put that in perspective, because if I think they're a

1172
00:55:51,719 --> 00:55:53,719
Speaker 3: little better than last year, that doesn't mean that I

1173
00:55:53,719 --> 00:55:56,799
Speaker 3: think that they're like emerging as a jugger not now.

1174
00:55:57,000 --> 00:55:59,520
Speaker 3: I just think they're really good, and I do prefer

1175
00:55:59,560 --> 00:56:00,399
Speaker 3: them to LA a bit.

1176
00:56:00,760 --> 00:56:02,920
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're in lockstep on this one. I think the

1177
00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:06,759
Speaker 1: Mavericks are definitely more likely to make a deep playoff run.

1178
00:56:07,320 --> 00:56:10,000
Speaker 1: There's you can talk yourself in or out of both

1179
00:56:10,040 --> 00:56:12,760
Speaker 1: of these teams. They both have the exact same weakness

1180
00:56:12,760 --> 00:56:14,760
Speaker 1: in my opinion, which is their slow on the perimeter.

1181
00:56:15,160 --> 00:56:17,719
Speaker 1: I think losing Derek Jones Junior and losing Josh Green

1182
00:56:18,080 --> 00:56:21,080
Speaker 1: were substantial losses in terms of like the speed, the

1183
00:56:21,120 --> 00:56:25,319
Speaker 1: ability to cover ground. Naji Marshall is a good point

1184
00:56:25,320 --> 00:56:27,920
Speaker 1: of attack defender. He's a decent athlete, but he's not

1185
00:56:28,000 --> 00:56:31,239
Speaker 1: like a fly around crazy athlete like I think Josh

1186
00:56:31,320 --> 00:56:33,400
Speaker 1: Green was a better athlete than him. So like the

1187
00:56:33,719 --> 00:56:36,600
Speaker 1: like in PACER's game, perfect example, the Pacers just ran

1188
00:56:36,640 --> 00:56:39,279
Speaker 1: circles around him in that game in transition and in

1189
00:56:39,280 --> 00:56:42,880
Speaker 1: the half court to get to whatever they want. I

1190
00:56:42,880 --> 00:56:44,960
Speaker 1: think you can talk yourself in a massive upside with

1191
00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:47,719
Speaker 1: both teams like that, Like Dallas just all you really

1192
00:56:47,760 --> 00:56:49,719
Speaker 1: have to do is follow the formula from last year,

1193
00:56:49,760 --> 00:56:52,760
Speaker 1: and you know, kind of talked about all of the

1194
00:56:53,320 --> 00:56:57,080
Speaker 1: offensive upside that comes from incorporating Klay Thompson. They have

1195
00:56:57,719 --> 00:57:00,759
Speaker 1: added some more five out concept this year, although they're

1196
00:57:00,760 --> 00:57:02,439
Speaker 1: not using them as much as I'd like to. There's

1197
00:57:02,440 --> 00:57:03,880
Speaker 1: been a little bit of like they do this a

1198
00:57:03,880 --> 00:57:05,799
Speaker 1: lot when Luca's on the bench, where they'll basically start

1199
00:57:05,880 --> 00:57:09,359
Speaker 1: running that cross action where basically they'll have Lively catch

1200
00:57:09,360 --> 00:57:10,680
Speaker 1: at the top of the key and they'll have the

1201
00:57:10,680 --> 00:57:12,600
Speaker 1: two guards screen for each other and then cut off

1202
00:57:12,640 --> 00:57:14,640
Speaker 1: of it, and then they'll if they don't get anything

1203
00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:16,480
Speaker 1: out of it, they'll flow into dhos out of that,

1204
00:57:16,520 --> 00:57:20,040
Speaker 1: which is a five out concept that I've seen some

1205
00:57:20,040 --> 00:57:23,520
Speaker 1: good stuff, but they just don't lean on it as much.

1206
00:57:23,520 --> 00:57:26,280
Speaker 1: They've kind of just fallen back into more or less

1207
00:57:26,280 --> 00:57:28,320
Speaker 1: what they've done last year, which is spamming high ball

1208
00:57:28,400 --> 00:57:31,760
Speaker 1: screen actions, whether it's stack or double drag or things

1209
00:57:31,800 --> 00:57:35,840
Speaker 1: along those lines. But like the main reason why I

1210
00:57:36,000 --> 00:57:38,040
Speaker 1: would lean Dallas over the Lakers is one I think

1211
00:57:38,080 --> 00:57:41,000
Speaker 1: Luca's better than everybody on the Lakers. For the record,

1212
00:57:41,040 --> 00:57:43,160
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis has played better than Luca at this point,

1213
00:57:43,200 --> 00:57:45,240
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis has played better than everybody in the league

1214
00:57:46,360 --> 00:57:49,120
Speaker 1: to this point, really except for Jokic maybe, and like

1215
00:57:49,200 --> 00:57:52,520
Speaker 1: he's just he's hooping, but like already starting to show

1216
00:57:52,560 --> 00:57:54,440
Speaker 1: some signs of him getting banged up a little bit.

1217
00:57:55,000 --> 00:57:59,360
Speaker 1: And the thing with Ad is, like I still think

1218
00:58:00,080 --> 00:58:01,960
Speaker 1: kind of like what we saw in the Cavs game

1219
00:58:02,480 --> 00:58:03,440
Speaker 1: is things kind.

1220
00:58:03,280 --> 00:58:04,600
Speaker 2: Of ramp up physically.

1221
00:58:05,160 --> 00:58:07,280
Speaker 1: He does have a tendency to be a little bit

1222
00:58:07,320 --> 00:58:09,520
Speaker 1: more inconsistent on the offensive end of the floor. So

1223
00:58:09,560 --> 00:58:11,000
Speaker 1: like I'm not as high on him as I am

1224
00:58:11,040 --> 00:58:14,240
Speaker 1: on Luca, and then Dallas is just deeper. They have

1225
00:58:14,320 --> 00:58:18,200
Speaker 1: more good basketball players. You could argue about the starting

1226
00:58:18,200 --> 00:58:20,000
Speaker 1: lineup here or there. The Lakers do have a very

1227
00:58:20,000 --> 00:58:23,040
Speaker 1: good starting lineup, but like the ability to have two

1228
00:58:23,120 --> 00:58:27,920
Speaker 1: legitimate fives that can anchor significant portions of the game.

1229
00:58:28,760 --> 00:58:30,400
Speaker 1: I mean, they really have a third five two with

1230
00:58:30,480 --> 00:58:33,960
Speaker 1: Kliba if they want to go smaller. If you call

1231
00:58:34,040 --> 00:58:37,240
Speaker 1: Kaliba your backup for PJ. Washington and Maxic Kleba, is

1232
00:58:37,240 --> 00:58:41,440
Speaker 1: a better four man rotation than like Ruy and Van Doo,

1233
00:58:41,560 --> 00:58:44,200
Speaker 1: for instance, if you're looking past the Stars, although obviously

1234
00:58:44,320 --> 00:58:48,440
Speaker 1: Lebron James is a factor there the Klay Thompson piece, Like,

1235
00:58:48,440 --> 00:58:51,160
Speaker 1: there's no doubt that he's not the athlete that Derek

1236
00:58:51,200 --> 00:58:53,760
Speaker 1: Jones was in his ability to cover ground and transition

1237
00:58:53,800 --> 00:58:55,880
Speaker 1: in rotation is not the same, but he's just so

1238
00:58:55,960 --> 00:58:58,120
Speaker 1: much better offensively that you could talk me into a

1239
00:58:58,120 --> 00:59:00,600
Speaker 1: give and take there where it's more or less the same. So, like,

1240
00:59:00,680 --> 00:59:04,360
Speaker 1: do I think Dallas is as good as Maverick? Fans

1241
00:59:04,400 --> 00:59:06,360
Speaker 1: think that the MAVs are like a top tier contender?

1242
00:59:06,400 --> 00:59:08,840
Speaker 1: Do I agree with that? No, I'm with you, Carson.

1243
00:59:08,880 --> 00:59:11,320
Speaker 1: I think they were a team that broke through the

1244
00:59:11,360 --> 00:59:13,640
Speaker 1: conference last year, but I didn't view them as a

1245
00:59:13,680 --> 00:59:15,600
Speaker 1: team that was on the same tier as Boston. I

1246
00:59:15,680 --> 00:59:17,720
Speaker 1: picked Boston in that series, and I picked Boston to

1247
00:59:17,720 --> 00:59:21,360
Speaker 1: blow them out, and they did. But that said, like

1248
00:59:21,680 --> 00:59:23,560
Speaker 1: when I look past the top tier and I look

1249
00:59:23,560 --> 00:59:25,919
Speaker 1: at the rest of the Western Conference, to me, there's

1250
00:59:25,960 --> 00:59:29,840
Speaker 1: not a team like Denver's. Denver is a weird one,

1251
00:59:29,880 --> 00:59:32,000
Speaker 1: like we talked about earlier with their weird start, but

1252
00:59:32,080 --> 00:59:34,720
Speaker 1: going into the season, beneath Denver and Oklahoma City, to me,

1253
00:59:34,800 --> 00:59:38,120
Speaker 1: Dallas was clearly better than Phoenix, clearly better than the Lakers,

1254
00:59:38,200 --> 00:59:41,280
Speaker 1: clearly better than Minnesota, Clearly better than the teams that

1255
00:59:41,320 --> 00:59:44,040
Speaker 1: are in that kind of middle tier in the conference.

1256
00:59:44,360 --> 00:59:47,240
Speaker 1: I think it's it'll remain to be seen whether or

1257
00:59:47,280 --> 00:59:50,320
Speaker 1: not they kind of hit an even higher offensive ceiling

1258
00:59:50,400 --> 00:59:52,720
Speaker 1: in the large sample. I'm hoping that in time they

1259
00:59:52,800 --> 00:59:55,400
Speaker 1: continue to explore some of the ball and player movement

1260
00:59:55,480 --> 00:59:57,360
Speaker 1: stuff that they did in the early part of the season.

1261
00:59:58,040 --> 01:00:01,560
Speaker 1: But I certainly think that they're more likely to make

1262
01:00:01,560 --> 01:00:03,760
Speaker 1: a deep playoff run than the Lakers. On the Lakers' front,

1263
01:00:03,800 --> 01:00:07,000
Speaker 1: this is all I'll say. Like, if you would have

1264
01:00:07,040 --> 01:00:09,200
Speaker 1: told me coming into the season, oh, they're four and three,

1265
01:00:09,320 --> 01:00:11,560
Speaker 1: with their tough schedule that they played to start, I

1266
01:00:11,600 --> 01:00:15,240
Speaker 1: would have been thrilled. Would have been like, that's amazing. Obviously,

1267
01:00:15,240 --> 01:00:17,439
Speaker 1: it's manifested different than I would have expected. I would

1268
01:00:17,440 --> 01:00:19,600
Speaker 1: have expected them to drop one of those first three games,

1269
01:00:19,640 --> 01:00:21,560
Speaker 1: and I would have expected them to beat the Pistons, right,

1270
01:00:21,600 --> 01:00:23,640
Speaker 1: But like, they're four and three, they're sitting in a

1271
01:00:23,680 --> 01:00:26,320
Speaker 1: good spot. But I'm actually coming out of it lower

1272
01:00:26,360 --> 01:00:29,320
Speaker 1: on them than I was to start the season. And

1273
01:00:29,360 --> 01:00:32,440
Speaker 1: the main reason why is just my overarching philosophy on

1274
01:00:32,480 --> 01:00:33,920
Speaker 1: the game that has shifted a little bit in the

1275
01:00:33,960 --> 01:00:36,320
Speaker 1: early part of the season. In terms of my prioritization

1276
01:00:36,400 --> 01:00:38,760
Speaker 1: of perimeter speed and the fact that I just think

1277
01:00:38,760 --> 01:00:41,840
Speaker 1: the Lakers are really slow. They desperately needed Max Christy

1278
01:00:41,920 --> 01:00:45,760
Speaker 1: to pop. He's been bad. He's just he does not

1279
01:00:46,200 --> 01:00:48,800
Speaker 1: understand and accept who he is as a basketball player.

1280
01:00:49,160 --> 01:00:50,720
Speaker 1: What he is is a basketball player, is a guy

1281
01:00:50,720 --> 01:00:53,040
Speaker 1: who should take catch and shoot threes in maybe one

1282
01:00:53,120 --> 01:00:56,200
Speaker 1: dribble decisions, meaning whether it's a slash to the bucket

1283
01:00:56,240 --> 01:00:58,600
Speaker 1: or a quick driving kick, but he thinks he should

1284
01:00:58,680 --> 01:01:00,480
Speaker 1: run action. He put it to the ball in the

1285
01:01:00,480 --> 01:01:03,160
Speaker 1: floor multiple times and over penetrates and tries to dunk

1286
01:01:03,200 --> 01:01:06,800
Speaker 1: on everybody. And he just, for lack of a better term,

1287
01:01:06,840 --> 01:01:10,080
Speaker 1: he's an incredibly immature offensive basketball player. And so I

1288
01:01:10,520 --> 01:01:13,360
Speaker 1: don't think, like I'm not a big Cam Reddish fan,

1289
01:01:13,520 --> 01:01:15,600
Speaker 1: but with how bad Max has looked, I almost think

1290
01:01:15,600 --> 01:01:18,640
Speaker 1: you have to play Cam over him. They needed Vando

1291
01:01:18,720 --> 01:01:22,360
Speaker 1: to get healthy. I'm higher on Vanda offensively than you are, Carson,

1292
01:01:22,440 --> 01:01:24,720
Speaker 1: just because the last time we saw him with the Lakers,

1293
01:01:24,720 --> 01:01:27,120
Speaker 1: they weren't running this offense. They were sticking him in

1294
01:01:27,160 --> 01:01:29,840
Speaker 1: the corner. That's obviously going to be a very poor

1295
01:01:29,840 --> 01:01:31,720
Speaker 1: way to use him. But if they use him as

1296
01:01:31,760 --> 01:01:33,760
Speaker 1: a screener and as a roller and as a cutter

1297
01:01:34,200 --> 01:01:36,280
Speaker 1: like they did before he got hurt last year. I

1298
01:01:36,320 --> 01:01:39,240
Speaker 1: actually think he's less of a negative on the offensive

1299
01:01:39,280 --> 01:01:42,200
Speaker 1: end of the floor and he brings the desperately needed

1300
01:01:42,240 --> 01:01:45,720
Speaker 1: perimeter athleticism that they need. But he's been hurt and

1301
01:01:45,760 --> 01:01:47,440
Speaker 1: he's not been able to stay on the floor for

1302
01:01:47,480 --> 01:01:50,440
Speaker 1: any extended stretch for a very long time. So, like,

1303
01:01:50,480 --> 01:01:53,120
Speaker 1: as I look at the Lakers roster and it's like, Okay,

1304
01:01:53,160 --> 01:01:55,720
Speaker 1: Gabe is somewhat fast, but he's really small, and the

1305
01:01:55,800 --> 01:01:58,160
Speaker 1: dude literally cannot put the ball in the basket. It's

1306
01:01:58,200 --> 01:02:01,840
Speaker 1: the craziest thing, Like he just cannot score. Then Max,

1307
01:02:01,960 --> 01:02:05,240
Speaker 1: who is an incredibly immature offensive player, and vanderhu can't

1308
01:02:05,280 --> 01:02:08,200
Speaker 1: stay healthy. Those are your fast guys. That's the speed

1309
01:02:08,240 --> 01:02:12,040
Speaker 1: on this roster. So like that, that's where I really

1310
01:02:12,040 --> 01:02:14,040
Speaker 1: start to get concerned about them in the big picture.

1311
01:02:14,080 --> 01:02:17,240
Speaker 1: The one thing with the Lakers is they have multiple

1312
01:02:17,280 --> 01:02:22,920
Speaker 1: expiring deals. Delo's deal is expiring now, the Jalen hood

1313
01:02:22,960 --> 01:02:25,720
Speaker 1: Chafino deal is expiring, so they have an opportunity to

1314
01:02:25,760 --> 01:02:29,120
Speaker 1: potentially make a deal, and they can. They have draft

1315
01:02:29,120 --> 01:02:31,800
Speaker 1: compensation that they can use, but they need to like

1316
01:02:32,040 --> 01:02:36,400
Speaker 1: absolutely nail whatever deadline deals that they make, and there's

1317
01:02:36,400 --> 01:02:38,560
Speaker 1: a lot of talk about them looking for a backup center.

1318
01:02:38,840 --> 01:02:41,520
Speaker 1: Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have an upgrade

1319
01:02:41,520 --> 01:02:43,800
Speaker 1: of Jackson Hayes, but he's so far down on their

1320
01:02:43,840 --> 01:02:46,800
Speaker 1: list of problems right now with their issues on the perimeter.

1321
01:02:47,920 --> 01:02:49,600
Speaker 1: I also think that they'll play better at this last

1322
01:02:49,640 --> 01:02:51,920
Speaker 1: thing I'll say. I also think they'll play like. The

1323
01:02:52,000 --> 01:02:54,400
Speaker 1: Lakers are four and three against a really tough schedule

1324
01:02:54,440 --> 01:02:56,480
Speaker 1: to start, and a lot of their guys aren't playing well.

1325
01:02:56,600 --> 01:02:58,640
Speaker 1: Austin's been really good in some games, but he's been

1326
01:02:58,680 --> 01:03:00,280
Speaker 1: really bad in some games. I thought it's I thought

1327
01:03:00,280 --> 01:03:02,560
Speaker 1: the Pistons game was the worst defensive game of his career.

1328
01:03:03,080 --> 01:03:05,280
Speaker 1: Ruyat Tamura has been really good some games, really bad

1329
01:03:05,280 --> 01:03:08,400
Speaker 1: some games. Lebron James for the most part, has been

1330
01:03:08,440 --> 01:03:10,880
Speaker 1: down to start the year. Nobody on the bench is

1331
01:03:10,880 --> 01:03:13,240
Speaker 1: playing well except for maybe Dalton, and even then it's

1332
01:03:13,320 --> 01:03:15,480
Speaker 1: I think it's been some mixed results. So like, they

1333
01:03:15,480 --> 01:03:17,560
Speaker 1: have a lot of guys not really playing well right now.

1334
01:03:17,640 --> 01:03:19,640
Speaker 1: So like, I do think that the Lakers will get better.

1335
01:03:19,680 --> 01:03:20,960
Speaker 1: I think that they're going to be a good regular

1336
01:03:20,960 --> 01:03:23,160
Speaker 1: season team, Like I think that I think through fifteen

1337
01:03:23,200 --> 01:03:26,200
Speaker 1: games they'll be ten and five, maybe even maybe even

1338
01:03:26,240 --> 01:03:28,400
Speaker 1: eleven and four. We'll see. Like I think they're going

1339
01:03:28,480 --> 01:03:31,440
Speaker 1: to be fine. It's just in terms of their big

1340
01:03:31,480 --> 01:03:32,760
Speaker 1: picture goals and what they.

1341
01:03:32,600 --> 01:03:33,280
Speaker 2: Want to achieve.

1342
01:03:33,680 --> 01:03:35,880
Speaker 1: I think this roster is deeply faught and I have

1343
01:03:35,960 --> 01:03:52,640
Speaker 1: some concerns for them. We're over an hour, so I

1344
01:03:52,720 --> 01:03:55,760
Speaker 1: want to get move into this last topic. I really

1345
01:03:55,800 --> 01:03:57,640
Speaker 1: wanted to spend some time on the Phoenix Suns today,

1346
01:03:57,640 --> 01:04:01,040
Speaker 1: so let's get into this. A little bit different Phoenix

1347
01:04:01,080 --> 01:04:03,680
Speaker 1: Suns team than we saw last year. Their sixteenth in offense,

1348
01:04:03,680 --> 01:04:06,520
Speaker 1: sixth in defense, eighth and net rating couple of big differences.

1349
01:04:06,600 --> 01:04:09,360
Speaker 1: Last year they were fourteenth, and assists percentage only sixty

1350
01:04:09,360 --> 01:04:11,880
Speaker 1: four percent of their baskets were assisted. This year they're

1351
01:04:11,920 --> 01:04:14,840
Speaker 1: up to fifth. Sixty nine percent of their baskets have

1352
01:04:14,840 --> 01:04:16,919
Speaker 1: been assisted to start this year, a lot more driving kick,

1353
01:04:17,080 --> 01:04:21,040
Speaker 1: their three point volume is way up. They're contending better physically.

1354
01:04:21,120 --> 01:04:23,360
Speaker 1: Last year they were twentieth in defensive rebounding this year

1355
01:04:23,360 --> 01:04:26,320
Speaker 1: their sixth. Cleaning the glass has a stat they used

1356
01:04:26,320 --> 01:04:29,640
Speaker 1: to track transition defense called points added per one hundred possessions.

1357
01:04:29,760 --> 01:04:33,840
Speaker 1: Is basically a combination of frequency and efficiency with transition.

1358
01:04:34,240 --> 01:04:36,640
Speaker 1: Last year they were eighteenth. This year their fifth, So

1359
01:04:36,880 --> 01:04:38,960
Speaker 1: they're contending better in the physical parts of the game.

1360
01:04:39,000 --> 01:04:41,680
Speaker 1: Big part of that is Ryan Dunn. Have you guys

1361
01:04:41,720 --> 01:04:44,160
Speaker 1: seen We'll start with you, Carson, have you seen anything

1362
01:04:44,200 --> 01:04:46,160
Speaker 1: with the Phoenix Suns that leads you to believe they're

1363
01:04:46,200 --> 01:04:48,560
Speaker 1: a different team that will be more successful this year

1364
01:04:48,600 --> 01:04:49,440
Speaker 1: than they were last year.

1365
01:04:50,320 --> 01:04:52,680
Speaker 4: Yeah. I do think that they're better than last year.

1366
01:04:52,800 --> 01:04:56,680
Speaker 3: And the biggest reason for that, in my eyes, is

1367
01:04:56,720 --> 01:04:59,360
Speaker 3: that they've found a couple of two way role players.

1368
01:04:59,480 --> 01:05:00,080
Speaker 4: That was the he.

1369
01:05:00,200 --> 01:05:02,880
Speaker 3: Struggle all of last season, Right, it was all, right,

1370
01:05:02,920 --> 01:05:05,680
Speaker 3: are we playing these guards who can actually shoot the

1371
01:05:05,720 --> 01:05:07,880
Speaker 3: ball but really struggle to defend? Or is it like, well,

1372
01:05:07,880 --> 01:05:09,800
Speaker 3: we got to put josh Okogie out there because we

1373
01:05:09,840 --> 01:05:12,920
Speaker 3: know athletically he can hang, but like they didn't have

1374
01:05:13,600 --> 01:05:15,680
Speaker 3: dudes who were capable on both sides of the ball.

1375
01:05:15,880 --> 01:05:18,000
Speaker 3: And I think now they've got some wings who can

1376
01:05:18,080 --> 01:05:20,880
Speaker 3: really defend out there playing more minutes, who have also

1377
01:05:21,000 --> 01:05:25,080
Speaker 3: been capable offensively. Ryan done, to me was the key

1378
01:05:25,400 --> 01:05:27,200
Speaker 3: to this season for the Suns. This is what I

1379
01:05:27,240 --> 01:05:30,040
Speaker 3: said in the preseason. They have to play him and

1380
01:05:30,120 --> 01:05:31,919
Speaker 3: he has to be good, and he has to hold

1381
01:05:32,000 --> 01:05:35,280
Speaker 3: up an offensive level close to what we saw in preseason.

1382
01:05:36,160 --> 01:05:37,960
Speaker 3: I guess maybe I shouldn't even say that, because he

1383
01:05:38,000 --> 01:05:40,760
Speaker 3: was shooting like over forty percent from deep on crazy volume.

1384
01:05:40,800 --> 01:05:44,440
Speaker 3: But he has to play at a level that solidifies

1385
01:05:44,720 --> 01:05:47,520
Speaker 3: that he has taken an offensive leap from the player

1386
01:05:47,560 --> 01:05:50,479
Speaker 3: we saw at Virginia, who was the worst offensive player

1387
01:05:50,600 --> 01:05:52,920
Speaker 3: drafted in the first round, probably right, and a complete

1388
01:05:53,240 --> 01:05:55,840
Speaker 3: non shooter who had no touch even from the free

1389
01:05:55,840 --> 01:05:56,480
Speaker 3: throw line.

1390
01:05:56,800 --> 01:05:58,640
Speaker 4: But what we saw in preseas and I thought, yeah.

1391
01:05:58,480 --> 01:06:01,080
Speaker 3: I think that something close to this is reasonable to

1392
01:06:01,160 --> 01:06:03,320
Speaker 3: expect from him, and I think that he's delivered on

1393
01:06:03,360 --> 01:06:05,640
Speaker 3: that last couple of games. He hasn't made a shot,

1394
01:06:05,720 --> 01:06:09,080
Speaker 3: but like we've seen him have some really good offensive performances,

1395
01:06:09,240 --> 01:06:12,160
Speaker 3: and he was the best defensive prospect in this class.

1396
01:06:12,200 --> 01:06:15,120
Speaker 3: I mean, what he does athletically on the perimeter is outstanding.

1397
01:06:15,160 --> 01:06:18,440
Speaker 3: We've seen him throw at some premier perimeter players if

1398
01:06:18,440 --> 01:06:20,960
Speaker 3: it's Lebron, if it's Harden, if it's Luca, and really

1399
01:06:21,120 --> 01:06:23,919
Speaker 3: hold his own in those matchups. He's also the best

1400
01:06:23,960 --> 01:06:27,520
Speaker 3: shot blocking wing in this class, and he's just exactly

1401
01:06:27,600 --> 01:06:28,919
Speaker 3: what Phoenix needs.

1402
01:06:29,000 --> 01:06:29,160
Speaker 1: Right.

1403
01:06:29,800 --> 01:06:32,960
Speaker 3: They need athletes, they need defenders, and when those dudes

1404
01:06:33,000 --> 01:06:36,360
Speaker 3: can play offensively, like he's attempting nine and a half

1405
01:06:36,400 --> 01:06:38,800
Speaker 3: threes per thirty six minutes and he's making thirty six

1406
01:06:38,840 --> 01:06:41,560
Speaker 3: percent of them, that's a huge win for them. That's

1407
01:06:41,600 --> 01:06:43,960
Speaker 3: the exact sort of role player they're looking for. And

1408
01:06:44,160 --> 01:06:47,120
Speaker 3: Roiz O'Neil has been better this year. He's filling his

1409
01:06:47,200 --> 01:06:49,240
Speaker 3: role at a higher level. Obviously, they made the move

1410
01:06:49,320 --> 01:06:51,520
Speaker 3: for him mid season last year and he had a

1411
01:06:51,560 --> 01:06:55,040
Speaker 3: really bad season versus Minnesota. But he's shooting the ball

1412
01:06:55,080 --> 01:06:57,560
Speaker 3: really well and he's defending well right now.

1413
01:06:57,640 --> 01:06:58,640
Speaker 4: So I think that.

1414
01:06:58,600 --> 01:07:02,560
Speaker 3: They've addressed their Vegas to need in terms of role players.

1415
01:07:03,200 --> 01:07:05,439
Speaker 3: And when you get O'Neill out there, or you get

1416
01:07:05,480 --> 01:07:08,160
Speaker 3: done out there instead of a Tias Jones or a

1417
01:07:08,200 --> 01:07:10,920
Speaker 3: Bradley Beal and you're playing them alongside Katie and Book,

1418
01:07:11,080 --> 01:07:14,360
Speaker 3: you've seen really good results. I think that they're starting

1419
01:07:14,480 --> 01:07:18,640
Speaker 3: five as it's configured is not a good cohesive lineup.

1420
01:07:18,680 --> 01:07:21,280
Speaker 3: I think that they have some redundancies and some very

1421
01:07:21,280 --> 01:07:24,160
Speaker 3: obvious limitations there, but it's not like they're strictly playing

1422
01:07:24,200 --> 01:07:26,880
Speaker 3: They're starting five twenty five minutes a night, right this

1423
01:07:26,920 --> 01:07:30,040
Speaker 3: is in Denver, so they're getting some better role player contributions.

1424
01:07:30,400 --> 01:07:34,520
Speaker 3: Their offense I think is pretty similar to last year.

1425
01:07:34,560 --> 01:07:36,840
Speaker 3: I do think it's slightly better, right. I do think

1426
01:07:36,880 --> 01:07:39,760
Speaker 3: there's a bit of a stabilizing element with Tias Jones.

1427
01:07:39,960 --> 01:07:42,240
Speaker 3: You mentioned the assist percentage. I do think the ball

1428
01:07:42,320 --> 01:07:44,680
Speaker 3: movement has been a bit better. I like the three

1429
01:07:44,680 --> 01:07:48,080
Speaker 3: point volume going up. I do still think they have

1430
01:07:48,160 --> 01:07:51,800
Speaker 3: some of the same limitations. They are still dead last

1431
01:07:51,840 --> 01:07:55,760
Speaker 3: in the league in restricted area makes and compared to

1432
01:07:55,800 --> 01:07:59,200
Speaker 3: the great offenses, they just don't have that sort of

1433
01:07:59,360 --> 01:08:01,120
Speaker 3: overwhelming advantage creator.

1434
01:08:01,200 --> 01:08:01,320
Speaker 4: Right.

1435
01:08:01,320 --> 01:08:02,880
Speaker 3: They can get in the drive and kick game, and

1436
01:08:02,880 --> 01:08:04,760
Speaker 3: they have a lot of offensive skill out there, but

1437
01:08:05,120 --> 01:08:08,400
Speaker 3: that rim pressure aspect, just having a guy who every

1438
01:08:08,400 --> 01:08:10,840
Speaker 3: time down the floor gets you a great shot is

1439
01:08:10,840 --> 01:08:12,880
Speaker 3: something they do not have. They do rely a lot

1440
01:08:12,960 --> 01:08:15,880
Speaker 3: still on Kadie and Book being incredible shot makers and

1441
01:08:15,960 --> 01:08:18,400
Speaker 3: Beale being a really good shot maker, and they can

1442
01:08:18,479 --> 01:08:21,600
Speaker 3: be a good offense like that. They've been average offensively

1443
01:08:21,640 --> 01:08:23,280
Speaker 3: so far this year, but they can be a good

1444
01:08:23,280 --> 01:08:25,360
Speaker 3: offense like that, and I expect them to be. It's

1445
01:08:25,439 --> 01:08:28,680
Speaker 3: just really hard to be a great offense like that.

1446
01:08:28,880 --> 01:08:31,200
Speaker 3: And hopefully they keep the three point volume up, because

1447
01:08:31,280 --> 01:08:34,280
Speaker 3: that was another component of this last year is they

1448
01:08:34,280 --> 01:08:36,920
Speaker 3: weren't getting shots at the rim, and they weren't getting

1449
01:08:37,120 --> 01:08:39,040
Speaker 3: a high percentage of shots from beyond the arc, and

1450
01:08:39,080 --> 01:08:40,840
Speaker 3: then you're just living in the mid range and that's

1451
01:08:40,960 --> 01:08:43,559
Speaker 3: just a numbers problem. That's a math problem for you,

1452
01:08:43,640 --> 01:08:46,040
Speaker 3: no matter how good your shot making from Katie and

1453
01:08:46,080 --> 01:08:49,679
Speaker 3: Book is. But what's been encouraging is how great they've

1454
01:08:49,680 --> 01:08:53,400
Speaker 3: been in the clutch compared to just the complete disaster

1455
01:08:53,520 --> 01:08:56,920
Speaker 3: they were last year, right turnover machine. In clutch situations,

1456
01:08:57,120 --> 01:08:59,280
Speaker 3: they've been awesome. That's where they've been winning all their games.

1457
01:08:59,280 --> 01:09:01,559
Speaker 3: They're five and in clutch games this year, and that's

1458
01:09:01,560 --> 01:09:02,280
Speaker 3: against a lot.

1459
01:09:02,120 --> 01:09:02,799
Speaker 4: Of good teams.

1460
01:09:03,200 --> 01:09:06,680
Speaker 3: Some of that is just KD heroics, but that's encouraging.

1461
01:09:06,720 --> 01:09:09,000
Speaker 3: I do think that they're better than last year, and

1462
01:09:09,120 --> 01:09:11,800
Speaker 3: to me, their ceiling is about how much they can

1463
01:09:11,800 --> 01:09:14,479
Speaker 3: continue to get these athletes and these defenders on the floor,

1464
01:09:14,600 --> 01:09:17,360
Speaker 3: because I think that that's where we need to see

1465
01:09:17,400 --> 01:09:19,800
Speaker 3: improvement from them compared to last year is really on

1466
01:09:19,840 --> 01:09:22,839
Speaker 3: the defensive end and in terms of physicality and toughness.

1467
01:09:22,840 --> 01:09:25,680
Speaker 3: I mean, they just got smacked in the mouth, they

1468
01:09:25,680 --> 01:09:30,280
Speaker 3: got bullied by Minnesota. The offense struggled and we saw

1469
01:09:30,479 --> 01:09:32,600
Speaker 3: again the lack of rim pressure right, the lack of

1470
01:09:32,800 --> 01:09:37,599
Speaker 3: high end athleticism advantage creation against a super athletic defense.

1471
01:09:37,640 --> 01:09:40,040
Speaker 3: It was bringing a ton of pressure and they were

1472
01:09:40,080 --> 01:09:43,360
Speaker 3: able to kind of suffocate even these really skilled ball handlers.

1473
01:09:43,920 --> 01:09:46,599
Speaker 3: But the defense is where I really hope to see

1474
01:09:46,600 --> 01:09:48,120
Speaker 3: improvement from Phoenix, and I think that.

1475
01:09:48,080 --> 01:09:48,840
Speaker 4: We have seen some.

1476
01:09:49,360 --> 01:09:51,559
Speaker 3: Like I said, I don't like the actual starting five.

1477
01:09:52,479 --> 01:09:54,559
Speaker 3: I think that lineup struggles to defend. I think they

1478
01:09:54,600 --> 01:09:57,000
Speaker 3: struggled to rebound. I think it's silly that they promised

1479
01:09:57,240 --> 01:09:59,519
Speaker 3: Tias Jones a starting spot, and if they were going

1480
01:09:59,560 --> 01:10:01,600
Speaker 3: to do that, I think that they probably should have

1481
01:10:01,640 --> 01:10:03,800
Speaker 3: sent Beal to the bench, just so again you are

1482
01:10:03,840 --> 01:10:06,120
Speaker 3: able to get a better athlete and defender on the floor.

1483
01:10:06,600 --> 01:10:09,479
Speaker 3: And I do think that having Nurk and plumb Lee

1484
01:10:09,520 --> 01:10:12,960
Speaker 3: eating up all your center minutes does limit their defensive ceiling.

1485
01:10:13,000 --> 01:10:16,160
Speaker 3: They've improved, but it is tough when you have that

1486
01:10:16,400 --> 01:10:20,840
Speaker 3: sort of limitations at the most important defensive position, and

1487
01:10:21,280 --> 01:10:25,040
Speaker 3: alongside O'Neill or Dunn or whoever you're playing big minutes

1488
01:10:25,120 --> 01:10:27,519
Speaker 3: or starting like, you are still going to have a

1489
01:10:27,560 --> 01:10:30,920
Speaker 3: small guard in Tyas Jones or Bradley Beal booking Katie

1490
01:10:30,960 --> 01:10:34,240
Speaker 3: are solid defensively, but we don't consistently see them buy

1491
01:10:34,280 --> 01:10:36,639
Speaker 3: all the way in on that end. Like, I think

1492
01:10:36,640 --> 01:10:38,519
Speaker 3: they have the potentially be a good offense. I think

1493
01:10:38,520 --> 01:10:40,799
Speaker 3: they have the potential to be an above average defense.

1494
01:10:41,120 --> 01:10:43,519
Speaker 3: And I also think that this West is a bit

1495
01:10:43,560 --> 01:10:48,120
Speaker 3: more vulnerable. Like the depth is crazy, but Minnesota's not

1496
01:10:48,160 --> 01:10:50,640
Speaker 3: as good as last year, Denver's not as good as

1497
01:10:50,720 --> 01:10:55,680
Speaker 3: last year. Dallas, to me, is clearly beatable. Like I

1498
01:10:55,720 --> 01:10:57,920
Speaker 3: think that this Phoenix team can win a series in

1499
01:10:57,960 --> 01:10:59,680
Speaker 3: this West, they might be able to go further than that.

1500
01:10:59,680 --> 01:11:02,080
Speaker 3: They might be able to win two series. I'm not

1501
01:11:02,120 --> 01:11:05,120
Speaker 3: really seeing a gap between some of the teams and

1502
01:11:05,160 --> 01:11:07,880
Speaker 3: them where I did expect to see a gap, and

1503
01:11:08,160 --> 01:11:09,800
Speaker 3: early in the year, when a lot of teams out

1504
01:11:09,840 --> 01:11:12,840
Speaker 3: West have just underwhelmed, Phoenix has been the one team

1505
01:11:12,880 --> 01:11:15,559
Speaker 3: that's soaring. I mean, I think there's obviously a massive

1506
01:11:15,600 --> 01:11:18,519
Speaker 3: gap between Oka seeing them, but I do think they're better.

1507
01:11:18,600 --> 01:11:20,920
Speaker 3: I was low on how much they could really improve

1508
01:11:21,680 --> 01:11:24,520
Speaker 3: this offseason, just with some of their fundamental core limitations

1509
01:11:24,560 --> 01:11:27,360
Speaker 3: and lack of roster flexibility. And I don't think that

1510
01:11:27,400 --> 01:11:30,160
Speaker 3: They've moved mountains in terms of how I viewed them,

1511
01:11:30,400 --> 01:11:32,439
Speaker 3: But it's definitely been encouraging and I am higher on

1512
01:11:32,479 --> 01:11:33,760
Speaker 3: them now than I was preseason.

1513
01:11:35,200 --> 01:11:37,360
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean that's the measuring stick for this year, right,

1514
01:11:37,479 --> 01:11:39,639
Speaker 6: it's all about Cam the Suns. When a playoff series

1515
01:11:39,680 --> 01:11:43,680
Speaker 6: they got demolished by Minnesota. I have been encouraged, and

1516
01:11:43,720 --> 01:11:46,840
Speaker 6: it does start defensively. I think we've seen more buy

1517
01:11:46,880 --> 01:11:50,320
Speaker 6: in with coach Budd and you know, Nurk and Plumbly

1518
01:11:50,400 --> 01:11:54,360
Speaker 6: have their you know, physical limitations is like centers, but

1519
01:11:54,640 --> 01:11:57,680
Speaker 6: I think they've played hard. Like I'll give Nrks some props, Like,

1520
01:11:57,720 --> 01:12:00,679
Speaker 6: I've liked how Nurks try playing out there.

1521
01:12:00,720 --> 01:12:02,280
Speaker 5: He's like moving in the pick and roll.

1522
01:12:02,280 --> 01:12:06,120
Speaker 6: He's trying to contest shots, right Like, obviously there's limitations

1523
01:12:06,160 --> 01:12:08,479
Speaker 6: athletically with what he can do, but I've been impressed there.

1524
01:12:09,600 --> 01:12:12,120
Speaker 6: They're really good at turning defense into offense when they

1525
01:12:12,160 --> 01:12:14,280
Speaker 6: can get stops. This was the number one transition team

1526
01:12:14,320 --> 01:12:17,000
Speaker 6: in basketball last year, their number five again this year.

1527
01:12:17,439 --> 01:12:20,240
Speaker 6: They have been better in the fourth quarter. They had

1528
01:12:20,240 --> 01:12:22,280
Speaker 6: a huge comeback win against Philadelphia.

1529
01:12:22,360 --> 01:12:22,879
Speaker 5: I blinked.

1530
01:12:22,920 --> 01:12:24,760
Speaker 6: I couldn't believe the Suns had come back and won

1531
01:12:24,800 --> 01:12:27,960
Speaker 6: that game. KD had fifteen points in the fourth. They

1532
01:12:27,960 --> 01:12:31,080
Speaker 6: had that twenty one point comeback versus the Clippers. So

1533
01:12:31,120 --> 01:12:34,800
Speaker 6: I do think you're seeing a feist year, a hungry team,

1534
01:12:34,880 --> 01:12:37,479
Speaker 6: a team that is again I hate always saying this,

1535
01:12:37,560 --> 01:12:40,080
Speaker 6: but they are playing harder. I think you are seeing

1536
01:12:40,080 --> 01:12:42,200
Speaker 6: that with Phoenix. They aren't melting down in the fourth.

1537
01:12:43,240 --> 01:12:44,960
Speaker 6: I think I'm higher on this offense a little bit

1538
01:12:44,960 --> 01:12:46,840
Speaker 6: more than you though, Carson. It is because of that

1539
01:12:46,960 --> 01:12:50,680
Speaker 6: high volume of threes. This team was twenty fifth and

1540
01:12:50,720 --> 01:12:52,240
Speaker 6: three pointers attempted last year.

1541
01:12:52,240 --> 01:12:53,040
Speaker 5: They were eleventh.

1542
01:12:53,040 --> 01:12:55,800
Speaker 6: This year. They were twentieth and three pointers made last

1543
01:12:55,880 --> 01:12:59,439
Speaker 6: year their seventh. Right now, all of last year, the

1544
01:12:59,479 --> 01:13:01,960
Speaker 6: Sun said twenty three games where they made fifteen or

1545
01:13:01,960 --> 01:13:04,639
Speaker 6: more threes. That's just twenty eight percent of their games.

1546
01:13:05,040 --> 01:13:08,000
Speaker 6: This season already, they've had four games where they've made

1547
01:13:08,040 --> 01:13:11,040
Speaker 6: fifteen or more threes. That's fifty seven percent of their games.

1548
01:13:11,200 --> 01:13:13,800
Speaker 6: It's four of seven thus far, and so they're on

1549
01:13:13,880 --> 01:13:15,920
Speaker 6: pace to do it in forty seven games this year.

1550
01:13:16,439 --> 01:13:17,960
Speaker 5: If they can keep up that.

1551
01:13:17,920 --> 01:13:21,720
Speaker 6: Kind of three point volume and playing hard defensively, it

1552
01:13:21,760 --> 01:13:24,240
Speaker 6: does make a meaningful difference in how this swings games.

1553
01:13:24,280 --> 01:13:26,719
Speaker 6: I agree with your fundamental flaw for this team, Carson.

1554
01:13:27,000 --> 01:13:29,120
Speaker 6: There's nobody that gets down hill and exerts a ton

1555
01:13:29,160 --> 01:13:31,240
Speaker 6: of pressure on the rim. But I think they can

1556
01:13:31,280 --> 01:13:33,280
Speaker 6: still be a really good offense with this kind of

1557
01:13:33,320 --> 01:13:36,120
Speaker 6: star power in this three point shooting flanking them.

1558
01:13:36,160 --> 01:13:37,680
Speaker 5: They made nine.

1559
01:13:37,479 --> 01:13:40,240
Speaker 6: Threes against Portland in the third quarter and that just

1560
01:13:40,280 --> 01:13:43,080
Speaker 6: completely shut them. I get it, it's Portland, but they

1561
01:13:43,080 --> 01:13:46,080
Speaker 6: completely shut them down. That was something that last year's

1562
01:13:46,080 --> 01:13:48,920
Speaker 6: team wouldn't have done at all. And they've had individual

1563
01:13:49,000 --> 01:13:53,040
Speaker 6: games that they've survived their stars not playing well, and

1564
01:13:53,040 --> 01:13:54,880
Speaker 6: I think that bodes well for the playoffs as well.

1565
01:13:54,880 --> 01:13:58,519
Speaker 6: Against Philadelphia, book goes three of eighteen. They mount that

1566
01:13:58,560 --> 01:14:01,400
Speaker 6: twenty one point comeback against the Slippers without Bradley Beal

1567
01:14:01,479 --> 01:14:04,840
Speaker 6: on the floor at all. So they've got star power,

1568
01:14:04,840 --> 01:14:07,680
Speaker 6: they've got improved three point shooting and depth. They've got

1569
01:14:07,720 --> 01:14:11,800
Speaker 6: improved defense with better coaching. Yeah, I think this team

1570
01:14:11,840 --> 01:14:13,680
Speaker 6: can win a playoff series. I don't know if i'd

1571
01:14:13,720 --> 01:14:17,439
Speaker 6: take them to the Western Conference finals. That's a little much,

1572
01:14:17,520 --> 01:14:19,879
Speaker 6: but I do think this team can win a playoff series.

1573
01:14:20,920 --> 01:14:23,080
Speaker 6: I've been really impressed by the Suns. I was really

1574
01:14:23,120 --> 01:14:25,000
Speaker 6: low on them, like you coming into the year, But

1575
01:14:25,840 --> 01:14:28,519
Speaker 6: I do feel a little differently about them now.

1576
01:14:29,720 --> 01:14:31,160
Speaker 1: I think it's been really funny to see some of

1577
01:14:31,200 --> 01:14:33,479
Speaker 1: the narrative stuff coming out of the way this team

1578
01:14:33,560 --> 01:14:38,639
Speaker 1: is covered, Like there's a lot of attributing tyas Jones

1579
01:14:39,240 --> 01:14:41,559
Speaker 1: with the success of the team here rely going, which

1580
01:14:41,600 --> 01:14:45,360
Speaker 1: is like, doesn't make any sense to me. Statistically, They've

1581
01:14:45,360 --> 01:14:47,960
Speaker 1: been way better when he's been off the floor. Coming

1582
01:14:47,960 --> 01:14:50,519
Speaker 1: out of that series with Minnesota, the obsession with the

1583
01:14:50,560 --> 01:14:52,519
Speaker 1: idea of like them needing a point guard, to me

1584
01:14:52,680 --> 01:14:55,960
Speaker 1: was silly because it's like, Okay, you're losing because you're

1585
01:14:55,960 --> 01:15:00,320
Speaker 1: getting manhandled, not because you're uh because you don't have

1586
01:15:00,360 --> 01:15:04,559
Speaker 1: a point guard, And like, yeah, do Beal and Booker

1587
01:15:04,600 --> 01:15:07,200
Speaker 1: and kd need to handle ball pressure better and get

1588
01:15:07,200 --> 01:15:10,120
Speaker 1: the ball at the floor and get into their stuff. Yeah, absolutely,

1589
01:15:10,160 --> 01:15:12,920
Speaker 1: no doubt, like that's on them, But like being like

1590
01:15:12,960 --> 01:15:17,080
Speaker 1: looking at that situation and being like, Okay, option one,

1591
01:15:17,120 --> 01:15:20,160
Speaker 1: we just do a better job not pissing down our

1592
01:15:20,200 --> 01:15:23,280
Speaker 1: leg when someone picks us up full court, and we

1593
01:15:23,400 --> 01:15:26,800
Speaker 1: devote our resources towards bigger athletes that help us win

1594
01:15:26,880 --> 01:15:30,559
Speaker 1: these really physical games. Or option two, let's have tie

1595
01:15:30,600 --> 01:15:34,280
Speaker 1: us do it, you know, like it's it's it's confusing

1596
01:15:34,320 --> 01:15:37,760
Speaker 1: to me because, like you know, just look at their data, Like,

1597
01:15:37,800 --> 01:15:40,679
Speaker 1: the guys that have been leading to their the most

1598
01:15:40,680 --> 01:15:44,559
Speaker 1: success on the floor have been Royce O'Neill, Ryan Dunn,

1599
01:15:44,640 --> 01:15:47,200
Speaker 1: the guys that are big, physical defenders that can knock

1600
01:15:47,200 --> 01:15:49,760
Speaker 1: down a wide open catch and shoot three. And like, look,

1601
01:15:49,800 --> 01:15:52,320
Speaker 1: do I love this team build? No, because, like I

1602
01:15:52,360 --> 01:15:54,559
Speaker 1: think it's really hard to win without a center in

1603
01:15:54,640 --> 01:15:57,400
Speaker 1: the NBA, just because like size and physicality and the

1604
01:15:57,400 --> 01:16:00,479
Speaker 1: ability to defensive rebound is important. And the Sons have

1605
01:16:00,600 --> 01:16:04,000
Speaker 1: been negative in their centerless groups so far this season.

1606
01:16:04,720 --> 01:16:07,160
Speaker 1: But like right now, if I was like picking a

1607
01:16:07,200 --> 01:16:09,320
Speaker 1: lineup to go down with, if I was the Suns,

1608
01:16:09,320 --> 01:16:11,920
Speaker 1: It'd be Bo Booker KD. And it'd be Ryan Dunn,

1609
01:16:11,960 --> 01:16:13,559
Speaker 1: and it'd be Royce O'Neil. Those are the guys that

1610
01:16:13,560 --> 01:16:15,000
Speaker 1: I would want to go down with. Those are the

1611
01:16:15,040 --> 01:16:18,320
Speaker 1: guys that give them the best chance to compete physically.

1612
01:16:18,400 --> 01:16:21,880
Speaker 1: I think that's the encouraging part. Getting a full season

1613
01:16:21,880 --> 01:16:24,240
Speaker 1: of Royce O'Neill adding Ryan Dune to this group, I

1614
01:16:24,280 --> 01:16:27,000
Speaker 1: think that's what causes them to have a better defensive

1615
01:16:27,040 --> 01:16:29,120
Speaker 1: rebounding track record than they do this year, to have

1616
01:16:29,160 --> 01:16:32,320
Speaker 1: a better transition defense than they did last year, to

1617
01:16:32,400 --> 01:16:35,200
Speaker 1: be a better defense overall than they were last year.

1618
01:16:35,200 --> 01:16:36,920
Speaker 1: And like Ryan Dunn is like not just a good

1619
01:16:36,920 --> 01:16:38,880
Speaker 1: defensive player, Like he's one of those guys where like

1620
01:16:38,920 --> 01:16:41,000
Speaker 1: I get nervous when people run action on his side

1621
01:16:41,000 --> 01:16:42,479
Speaker 1: of the floor that he's just going to blow it up.

1622
01:16:42,920 --> 01:16:46,560
Speaker 1: Like the dude is an absolute monster. I loved the

1623
01:16:46,640 --> 01:16:50,439
Speaker 1: quote from KD about there was a quote from KD that,

1624
01:16:50,479 --> 01:16:52,280
Speaker 1: like one of the things he loves about Ryan Dunn is.

1625
01:16:52,280 --> 01:16:53,080
Speaker 2: That he fouls a lot.

1626
01:16:55,080 --> 01:16:57,320
Speaker 1: And it's actually been really funny to me because like

1627
01:16:57,360 --> 01:16:59,000
Speaker 1: this is something I thought with my young players all

1628
01:16:59,040 --> 01:17:01,599
Speaker 1: the time, the ones that I coach, Like when I'm

1629
01:17:01,600 --> 01:17:03,360
Speaker 1: playing one on one with him, when I decide to

1630
01:17:03,360 --> 01:17:05,880
Speaker 1: step in for fun and play king of the court,

1631
01:17:06,000 --> 01:17:08,880
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm like, why are you scared to guard me? Like, yeah,

1632
01:17:08,880 --> 01:17:10,120
Speaker 1: I get it, I'm your coach. I get it on

1633
01:17:10,200 --> 01:17:12,720
Speaker 1: bigger and stronger than you, but like, compete here, show me.

1634
01:17:12,680 --> 01:17:13,160
Speaker 2: What you got.

1635
01:17:13,200 --> 01:17:15,000
Speaker 1: And there have been a handful of guys that have

1636
01:17:15,040 --> 01:17:17,360
Speaker 1: come through the program where it's like they don't care

1637
01:17:17,400 --> 01:17:19,799
Speaker 1: that I'm older and bigger and stronger and more experienced,

1638
01:17:19,840 --> 01:17:22,160
Speaker 1: like they tried, they foul me, they get physical, and

1639
01:17:22,160 --> 01:17:24,639
Speaker 1: I'm like, yes, this is awesome. You're competing, you're showing fight,

1640
01:17:24,760 --> 01:17:27,280
Speaker 1: and like it's like I had a comment after the

1641
01:17:27,920 --> 01:17:30,639
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook clip that I showed of him guarding RJ.

1642
01:17:30,800 --> 01:17:31,280
Speaker 2: Barrett.

1643
01:17:31,560 --> 01:17:34,120
Speaker 1: Someone was like, he committed three fouls on that possession.

1644
01:17:34,160 --> 01:17:36,559
Speaker 1: I'm like, maybe, but you know what the best defenders do.

1645
01:17:36,600 --> 01:17:38,120
Speaker 1: They foul and they get away with it. That's like

1646
01:17:38,160 --> 01:17:40,200
Speaker 1: what they do. That's part of basketball. You need to

1647
01:17:40,240 --> 01:17:43,640
Speaker 1: get the suns needed to get meaner and more physical,

1648
01:17:43,720 --> 01:17:45,920
Speaker 1: and I feel like they're meaner and more physical this year,

1649
01:17:45,920 --> 01:17:48,960
Speaker 1: and I think that that's something that makes them better.

1650
01:17:49,000 --> 01:17:51,120
Speaker 1: I think when push comes to shove on the offensive

1651
01:17:51,160 --> 01:17:53,519
Speaker 1: end of the floor, it's on KD, Devin Booker, and

1652
01:17:53,560 --> 01:17:56,360
Speaker 1: Bradley Beal to navigate ball pressure, to get the defense

1653
01:17:56,400 --> 01:17:59,160
Speaker 1: into rotation, to make the right reads, to trust each

1654
01:17:59,200 --> 01:18:02,639
Speaker 1: other to drive. And I think I think that that

1655
01:18:03,120 --> 01:18:07,120
Speaker 1: is if we're looking for something that coach Budenholzer has

1656
01:18:07,160 --> 01:18:10,479
Speaker 1: really affected. You know, Frank Vogel is as good of

1657
01:18:10,479 --> 01:18:11,960
Speaker 1: a defensive coach as he is, and I think he's

1658
01:18:11,960 --> 01:18:16,040
Speaker 1: an underrated defensive coach. Frank Vogel has always had been

1659
01:18:16,080 --> 01:18:18,000
Speaker 1: way behind the times on the offensive end of the floor,

1660
01:18:18,640 --> 01:18:23,360
Speaker 1: and I think that that structure and that prioritization of

1661
01:18:23,400 --> 01:18:25,720
Speaker 1: those driving kick possessions has been really good for them.

1662
01:18:26,120 --> 01:18:28,599
Speaker 1: I'm with you, Carson and your outlook on the league. Like,

1663
01:18:28,640 --> 01:18:30,679
Speaker 1: to me, Oklahoma City is on a clear tier above

1664
01:18:30,720 --> 01:18:32,880
Speaker 1: the rest. But you could talk me into any of

1665
01:18:32,920 --> 01:18:36,240
Speaker 1: those other teams winning multiple playoffs series. So that could

1666
01:18:36,240 --> 01:18:38,439
Speaker 1: be Oklahoma City versus Phoenix, That could be Oklahoma City

1667
01:18:38,479 --> 01:18:41,400
Speaker 1: versus Dallas. It could be Oklahoma City versus Minnesota, Oklahoma

1668
01:18:41,400 --> 01:18:44,320
Speaker 1: City versus Denver, Oklahoma City versus the Lakers, Oklahoma City

1669
01:18:44,400 --> 01:18:47,240
Speaker 1: versus Golden State, any of those teams. To me, I

1670
01:18:47,280 --> 01:18:51,280
Speaker 1: could see meeting in the conference finals, just because there's.

1671
01:18:50,960 --> 01:18:51,559
Speaker 2: Just a whole.

1672
01:18:51,720 --> 01:18:53,840
Speaker 1: It's so funny because we were talking earlier about the

1673
01:18:53,880 --> 01:18:56,080
Speaker 1: difference between the two conferences and how there's only two

1674
01:18:56,080 --> 01:18:58,559
Speaker 1: teams over five hundred out east right now, But it's

1675
01:18:58,640 --> 01:19:02,040
Speaker 1: like it's a whole lot of mediocre off the top.

1676
01:19:02,280 --> 01:19:02,920
Speaker 2: It's a whole.

1677
01:19:03,160 --> 01:19:06,120
Speaker 1: There's like two elite teams and then there's like eighteen

1678
01:19:07,120 --> 01:19:09,519
Speaker 1: the teams, you know what I mean, And like there

1679
01:19:09,520 --> 01:19:11,640
Speaker 1: are a couple of them that are playing better at

1680
01:19:11,640 --> 01:19:13,519
Speaker 1: the start of the season, right, Like Phoenix is playing better,

1681
01:19:13,560 --> 01:19:16,280
Speaker 1: Cleveland's playing better, Golden State's playing better. But like when

1682
01:19:16,360 --> 01:19:18,040
Speaker 1: push comes to shove and we get to April and

1683
01:19:18,080 --> 01:19:20,439
Speaker 1: it's time for a seven game series, there's not really

1684
01:19:20,479 --> 01:19:24,400
Speaker 1: a whole lot of separation taking place among that group

1685
01:19:24,439 --> 01:19:26,439
Speaker 1: in my opinion. And so to me, it's like what

1686
01:19:26,479 --> 01:19:29,000
Speaker 1: it comes down to is who can among that group,

1687
01:19:29,439 --> 01:19:32,839
Speaker 1: who can from day one start a training camp address

1688
01:19:33,080 --> 01:19:35,920
Speaker 1: the things they need to address and build those habits

1689
01:19:36,280 --> 01:19:38,200
Speaker 1: and all of that attention to details so that they

1690
01:19:38,200 --> 01:19:40,280
Speaker 1: can be a sharper team when they get to the

1691
01:19:40,320 --> 01:19:41,760
Speaker 1: end of the line. And to me, Phoenix is one

1692
01:19:41,760 --> 01:19:44,240
Speaker 1: of those teams that's taking the right approach here in

1693
01:19:44,280 --> 01:19:46,479
Speaker 1: the early part of the season. All right, guys, it's

1694
01:19:46,479 --> 01:19:47,880
Speaker 1: all we have for today. Carson, why don't you tell

1695
01:19:47,920 --> 01:19:49,320
Speaker 1: us about what you guys are working on over at

1696
01:19:49,320 --> 01:19:50,240
Speaker 1: NERD sesh.

1697
01:19:50,360 --> 01:19:52,479
Speaker 4: Yeah, we have a ton of stuff.

1698
01:19:52,560 --> 01:19:54,479
Speaker 3: So, as Logan mentioned, I just did a video on

1699
01:19:54,520 --> 01:19:58,040
Speaker 3: Evan Mobley yesterday. We do have a video out on

1700
01:19:58,120 --> 01:20:01,480
Speaker 3: Chedd Holmgren from last week covering some these early season breakouts.

1701
01:20:01,560 --> 01:20:04,280
Speaker 3: So that's fun. We really go in depth with film

1702
01:20:04,320 --> 01:20:06,559
Speaker 3: on those, but we also have all of our full

1703
01:20:06,600 --> 01:20:09,479
Speaker 3: length shows three times a week. We're talking basketball, so

1704
01:20:09,600 --> 01:20:11,919
Speaker 3: much fun to have it back. We're also talking football,

1705
01:20:12,160 --> 01:20:15,120
Speaker 3: so if you are looking for a fix there, then

1706
01:20:15,120 --> 01:20:17,479
Speaker 3: you can head on over to the nerd Sash YouTube channel.

1707
01:20:17,520 --> 01:20:20,479
Speaker 3: All that good stuff is there, and that's basically it.

1708
01:20:20,560 --> 01:20:21,280
Speaker 3: Thank you Jason for.

1709
01:20:21,280 --> 01:20:21,720
Speaker 4: Having us on.

1710
01:20:21,760 --> 01:20:24,160
Speaker 3: As always, this was a great time and I'm just

1711
01:20:24,200 --> 01:20:26,280
Speaker 3: so happy to have basketball back. Man, it brings me

1712
01:20:26,360 --> 01:20:28,280
Speaker 3: so much joy. And this has been a really fun

1713
01:20:28,320 --> 01:20:28,960
Speaker 3: season so far.

1714
01:20:29,000 --> 01:20:29,400
Speaker 4: I think.

1715
01:20:29,880 --> 01:20:32,720
Speaker 1: Hell yeah, I'm super excited too. I appreciate you guys

1716
01:20:32,720 --> 01:20:34,240
Speaker 1: taking the time to come on. I'm hoping that we

1717
01:20:34,280 --> 01:20:36,600
Speaker 1: finally get a good NBA Finals this year. That's the

1718
01:20:37,040 --> 01:20:38,920
Speaker 1: give me a good conference finals and a good NBA

1719
01:20:38,960 --> 01:20:40,240
Speaker 1: for well, I'm for.

1720
01:20:40,400 --> 01:20:44,759
Speaker 3: If oksee Boston doesn't deliver, then dude, what's the point.

1721
01:20:45,960 --> 01:20:46,760
Speaker 4: What's it all for?

1722
01:20:48,160 --> 01:20:48,439
Speaker 5: All Right?

1723
01:20:48,479 --> 01:20:50,880
Speaker 1: Guys, as always, you sincerely appreciate you for supporting the show.

1724
01:20:50,920 --> 01:20:52,519
Speaker 1: Make sure you head over to nerd SATs. They're making

1725
01:20:52,520 --> 01:20:55,639
Speaker 1: incredible content over there. You will get smarter and you'll

1726
01:20:56,920 --> 01:20:58,600
Speaker 1: just enjoy those two guys in the hard work that

1727
01:20:58,640 --> 01:21:02,080
Speaker 1: they do. We will be back. I'm recording. So I'm

1728
01:21:02,080 --> 01:21:04,200
Speaker 1: recording a mailbag after this that's going to air later

1729
01:21:04,280 --> 01:21:06,439
Speaker 1: this week. But we are going to be back tomorrow

1730
01:21:06,439 --> 01:21:11,240
Speaker 1: morning to cover a jam packed Wednesday Night slate. The

1731
01:21:11,280 --> 01:21:14,000
Speaker 1: Celtics Warriors game tonight should be super interesting. There's like

1732
01:21:14,000 --> 01:21:15,880
Speaker 1: a half dozen really good games. We're probably gonna do

1733
01:21:15,880 --> 01:21:18,759
Speaker 1: something similar to what we did Tuesday, like bouncing around

1734
01:21:18,800 --> 01:21:21,040
Speaker 1: the whole league and doing a bunch of films, So

1735
01:21:21,320 --> 01:21:23,600
Speaker 1: be ready for that tomorrow, and then we'll have that

1736
01:21:23,640 --> 01:21:25,120
Speaker 1: mailbag on Friday, and then we'll be out of here for

1737
01:21:25,160 --> 01:21:26,439
Speaker 1: the week. All right, guys, that's all we have. We

1738
01:21:26,439 --> 01:21:27,280
Speaker 1: will see you tomorrow.

1739
01:21:29,479 --> 01:21:30,120
Speaker 6: The volume