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Speaker 1: in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented
Speaker 1: by Vanduel here at the volume. Happy Wednesday, everybody. I
Speaker 1: hope all of you guys are having an incredible week
Speaker 1: so far. I apologize sincerely for the technical difficulties that
Speaker 1: we had during last night's show. So because of that
Speaker 1: two things. First of all, thank you guys for watching
Speaker 1: that video and putting up with it. Um. I promise
Speaker 1: we're working on making sure that doesn't happen again. But
Speaker 1: as a result, we're gonna change our schedule up a
Speaker 1: little bit this week because we're gonna be doing some
Speaker 1: um stuff behind the scenes to make sure that we
Speaker 1: can go live without having those problems again. So tonight's
Speaker 1: live show is canceled, and what the rest of this
Speaker 1: week is gonna look like instead is today we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about two Eastern Conference teams that are that are
Speaker 1: on hot streaks, the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia seventies Sixers.
Speaker 1: Then the back calf of today's show, we're gonna hit
Speaker 1: the two teams that we were supposed to hit last
Speaker 1: night but that we cut off because of the technical difficulties.
Speaker 1: That's the Indiana Pacers and the Minnesota Timberwolves in light
Speaker 1: of the Carl Anthony Town's trade. So those are the
Speaker 1: four teams were hitting today. Then tomorrow we're gonna cover
Speaker 1: all of the teams and games that we were going
Speaker 1: to cover in tonight's show. We're just gonna do it
Speaker 1: instead of going live, We're gonna pre record it and
Speaker 1: release it Tomorrow. Friday, we're going to have our Quarter
Speaker 1: of the season awards, and then Saturday morning we'll have
Speaker 1: a video cover covering the Friday night game. So they
Speaker 1: all end up being six shows this week. By the
Speaker 1: time it's all said and done, you guys know the
Speaker 1: drill before we get started. Subscribe to the Volumes YouTube
Speaker 1: channel so you don't miss any more of our videos.
Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at Underscore Jason Lts you guys
Speaker 1: don't miss any show announcements. It's also where I'm putting
Speaker 1: footage breakdowns these days. I did one today specifically talking
Speaker 1: about Malcolm Brogden and what he's been doing for the Celtics,
Speaker 1: So you're gonna want to follow me there to get
Speaker 1: that video. And then, last but not least, for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: you guys miss one of these and you can't get
Speaker 1: back over to YouTube to finish. You can find them
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts Under Hoops tonight, and I
Speaker 1: know those talks in basketball. So the Boston Celtics. We
Speaker 1: talked about them last week, but we really aren't talking
Speaker 1: about them nearly enough for how good they are, especially
Speaker 1: since that's when I want the primary focus of this
Speaker 1: team too, of the show to be, is on the
Speaker 1: best teams in the league. So we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: them again today and probably again tomorrow after the Miami
Speaker 1: Heat game. Um, they're thirteen in one in their last
Speaker 1: fourteen games in that span, No other team in the
Speaker 1: league has fewer than four losses, so that's how incredibly
Speaker 1: dominant they've been compared to the rest of the league.
Speaker 1: They are first in offense, with a six point three
Speaker 1: point gap between them in second place over this fourteen
Speaker 1: game span. They are still fifteenth in defense in this
Speaker 1: fourteen game span, but they've had incredibly dominant stretches, and honestly,
Speaker 1: they're scoring so well that their defense they haven't been
Speaker 1: devoting as much energy to it for spurts of these
Speaker 1: games because they just haven't felt the urgency. But when
Speaker 1: they felt the urgency, every time I've watched them, they've
Speaker 1: been able to hit that switch, shut everybody's water off,
Speaker 1: and get the win. Um In this fourteen game stretch,
Speaker 1: they are first in net rating with the seven point
Speaker 1: four point per one possessions gap over second place. Isn't
Speaker 1: that completely insane? Their average margin of victory in their
Speaker 1: thirteen wins was fourteen points, and they beat a lot
Speaker 1: of good teams. They beat that King's team that was
Speaker 1: red hot. They beat the Dallas Mavericks, they beat the Pelicans,
Speaker 1: they beat the Hawks, they beat the Nuggets, they beat
Speaker 1: the Grizzlies, and more. Everyone's playing extremely well they have
Speaker 1: six players averaging double figures. Jayson Tatum is averaging one,
Speaker 1: eight and five on sixty percent true shooting, Jaylen Brown
Speaker 1: six and four on sixty four percent true shooting, and
Speaker 1: then Malcolm Brogden, Al Horford, Marcus Smart, and Derek White
Speaker 1: are all over twelve points per game During the stretch,
Speaker 1: Malcolm Brogden in limited minutes is averaging fourteen points per
Speaker 1: game on sixty percent true shot. If you extrapolated out
Speaker 1: to a per thirty six, which is like a normal
Speaker 1: shift and probably the amount of minutes that he'll be
Speaker 1: playing in a playoff setting, he's been averaging twenty three
Speaker 1: points and six assists per thirty six minutes. The Malcolm
Speaker 1: Brogden trade has been an absolute home run. That legit
Speaker 1: additional ball handler addressed a very specific weakness for the Celtics.
Speaker 1: In addition to that, Marcus Smart improved as a ball handler,
Speaker 1: Chase and Tatum improved as a ball handler. Even Jaylen
Speaker 1: Brown up to excuse me, up to four assists per
Speaker 1: game in the stretch. He's handling the ball a lot better.
Speaker 1: So as a team, they've kind of addressed their biggest
Speaker 1: flawed As a result, they've just been kind of kicking
Speaker 1: everybody's ass, but Brogden in particular, I think a spearheading that.
Speaker 1: So this season he scored a hundred and thirty eight
Speaker 1: points on hundred and thirty four picking rolls including passes,
Speaker 1: which is in the percentile. And he's really accomplishing that
Speaker 1: with the combination of three things. He's got a deadly
Speaker 1: pull up jumper shooting on the season on pull up jumpers,
Speaker 1: including from three excuse me, those numbers are from this, uh,
Speaker 1: this fourteen game stretch. He also has like a really
Speaker 1: nice left handed finish he uh. You know, it's funny
Speaker 1: because there's a bunch of different ways to go about
Speaker 1: finishing on the left side of the rim um. A
Speaker 1: lot of players will like Lebron does this a lot,
Speaker 1: you know, Taylor Horton Tucker is the most exaggerative example
Speaker 1: of this. But like they'll get to the left side
Speaker 1: of the rim and they'll just kind of position their
Speaker 1: body between the defender and the rim and they'll almost
Speaker 1: shoot like backwards behind their head with their right hand.
Speaker 1: Brogden does more of that traditional like he gets his
Speaker 1: right shoulder into you and then he extends his left
Speaker 1: arm way out and He's almost got like a scooping
Speaker 1: like hook left handed layup that he knocks down seemingly
Speaker 1: every single time, just using his body as a shield
Speaker 1: to get that separation. And then he has a willingness
Speaker 1: to use the role man. So it's kind of like
Speaker 1: the perfect combination crafty finishing around the rim, excellent pull
Speaker 1: up jump shooting, and the willingness to pass to that
Speaker 1: role man when the screen defender is helping. That's gonna
Speaker 1: make you effective and pick and roll. So I put
Speaker 1: I put together a bunch of clips of this on
Speaker 1: my Twitter feed again at underscore Jason lt where you
Speaker 1: can kind of see an example of a breakdown of
Speaker 1: the success that Malcolm Brogden has been having in pick
Speaker 1: and roll this year. But the bottom line is, as
Speaker 1: we know, with the Celtics, they have, you know, the
Speaker 1: deepest roster in the league, and they've got a ton
Speaker 1: of guys that can play good driving kick basketball. So
Speaker 1: having another guy on the roster that can legitimately create
Speaker 1: advantages not just for himself but for his teammates, and
Speaker 1: presenting those advantage in situations to really good basketball players,
Speaker 1: you're gonna end up scoring a ship ton of points
Speaker 1: and that's what the Boston Celtics are doing. Jayson Tatum's
Speaker 1: passing is coming around. Finally. You guys heard what I
Speaker 1: said before the year, Like, I think it's so important,
Speaker 1: especially in the Celtics system, to have guys that are
Speaker 1: willing to make that first pass to just get the
Speaker 1: defense into rotation. And to start this season, Tatum was
Speaker 1: really hunting his shot, but over the course of this
Speaker 1: four team game span, his assists are backup where they
Speaker 1: should be around five per game UM and kind of
Speaker 1: targeting that that specific role a little bit better. When
Speaker 1: he passes out of pick and roll this year, the
Speaker 1: Celtics have scored a hundred and eight points possessions, which
Speaker 1: is in the seventy nine percentile, and when he shoots
Speaker 1: or passes out of ISO, the Celtics have scored a
Speaker 1: hundred and eleven points on a hundred and four possessions,
Speaker 1: which is in the seventie percentile. Jalen Brown has been
Speaker 1: one of the best pick and roll creators in the
Speaker 1: league this year. He's good for a hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: seven points on a hundred and fifteen pick and rolls,
Speaker 1: which is in the eight six percentile. I was watching
Speaker 1: a bunch of footage on it this morning. It's it's
Speaker 1: just classic what you'd expect with Jalen Brown, a good
Speaker 1: combination of downhill athleticism getting to the rim and a
Speaker 1: deadly pull up jump shot. In this fourteen game stretch,
Speaker 1: he's taken sixty pull up jumpers and he's made thirty
Speaker 1: three of them, including eight for nineteen from three, which
Speaker 1: is so Jalen Brown playing some of the best basketball
Speaker 1: of his career. And then Marcus Smart. Honestly, guys like
Speaker 1: in Celtics fans, I'm sure would speak to this from
Speaker 1: what I can tell from what I've been watching. Marcus
Speaker 1: Smart is kind of the secret he euro of the
Speaker 1: Celtics offense this year. His combination of a really good handling,
Speaker 1: quick first step, and ability to get defenders trapped in
Speaker 1: jail so he can use them to get over the
Speaker 1: top of screens. That in combination with his posting up
Speaker 1: because he can he typically draws a good matchup just
Speaker 1: because of the way that the Celtics present matchup problems
Speaker 1: for teams. He's the guy that is starting so many
Speaker 1: of these Celtics possessions by getting the defense into rotation
Speaker 1: and then everybody's capitalizing on that attention and then he's
Speaker 1: always been a really good passer. It's always been one
Speaker 1: of his best skills. But the game is really just
Speaker 1: coming together for him, and the numbers, the resulting numbers
Speaker 1: are insane. He has scored a hundred. The Celtics have
Speaker 1: scored a hundred and fifty five points on a hundred
Speaker 1: and ten Marcus Smart picking rolls this year, which is
Speaker 1: the best in the league, literally the best in the
Speaker 1: league for guys in that range of volume. He's also
Speaker 1: scoring one point three or the Celtics are scoring one
Speaker 1: point three points per Marcus Smart post up, which is
Speaker 1: in the ninety percentile. So you're getting just incredibly high
Speaker 1: level creation from Marcus Smart just simply drawing good defensive
Speaker 1: matchups and using pick and roll and post ups to
Speaker 1: generate advantages first team and everyone creating off of those
Speaker 1: advantage situations. You know, it's funny because as we kind
Speaker 1: of zoom out from the Celtics for a second, we
Speaker 1: all have like our our rules, um our little philosophies
Speaker 1: that we have as basketball fans are a basketball coaches
Speaker 1: are as basketball players, And one of my big ones
Speaker 1: has been to never overreact to regular season trends, you know,
Speaker 1: like um, especially for teams that are proven in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So for instance, like last year's Warriors, you know, they
Speaker 1: had a really a really bad regular season by their
Speaker 1: standards because of injuries for the most part, but they
Speaker 1: got up to a really hot start and then things
Speaker 1: kind of fell apart with injuries, and UM, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of pessimism surrounding the Warriors going into that playoff run.
Speaker 1: And I picked them in three out of the four rounds,
Speaker 1: and the one time I picked against them was against
Speaker 1: the Mavericks in the Conference finals, and I said at
Speaker 1: the time, I didn't feel good about it. It It was
Speaker 1: more about the Luca matchup and what he had just
Speaker 1: done to the Suns than any sort of negativity towards
Speaker 1: the Warriors. And the main reason why it is just
Speaker 1: like regular season basketball just doesn't mean that much to
Speaker 1: that type of team, that veteran experienced team that's been
Speaker 1: there so many times, and I just had a feeling
Speaker 1: they'd put it all together, and they did, which is
Speaker 1: why I picked them over even the Celtics when they
Speaker 1: got to the finals. You know, a similar example to
Speaker 1: that is the those Cavaliers teams with Lebron and like
Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen and two thousand eighteen, like just really
Speaker 1: miserable regular seasons where they're just b sing through every
Speaker 1: single night. And I remember that two thousand seventeen team
Speaker 1: in particular, really struggled in the second half of the year,
Speaker 1: just not playing any damn defense, losing a bunch of
Speaker 1: games they had no business losing. And then what happened.
Speaker 1: They got into the playoffs and they literally whooped everyone's
Speaker 1: ass both of those years and made it to the finals.
Speaker 1: And so, you know, it's kind of like a lesson
Speaker 1: of mine, like not to overreact to regular season trends.
Speaker 1: But there's one specific regular season trend that I always
Speaker 1: pay really close attention to, and that's if there is
Speaker 1: a team that is just whooping everyone's ass, like it's
Speaker 1: not even close, that team usually keeps whooping everyone's ass
Speaker 1: until they get the trophy. And the two recent examples
Speaker 1: of this that I would use are the Lakers. All
Speaker 1: year long, people hyper focused on roster flaws. They don't
Speaker 1: have enough shooting, there's not enough spacing, they play big
Speaker 1: too much, well, Anthony Davis get hurt, Is Lebron James
Speaker 1: still the best player in the world. All of that
Speaker 1: negativity was surrounding that Lakers team, and they were twenty
Speaker 1: four and three, and then guess what happened. They got
Speaker 1: to the postseason and they beat everyone's ass, never even
Speaker 1: remotely threatened. The shooting didn't matter. Lebron was the best
Speaker 1: player in the world, Anthony Davis played like a top
Speaker 1: five player in the world, and they kicked everyone's ass,
Speaker 1: and so all of that negativity surrounding them ended up
Speaker 1: not making any sense. Meanwhile, there was all this hype
Speaker 1: surrounding a Clippers team that had never won a title
Speaker 1: and had a disappointing regular season, and they ended up
Speaker 1: losing to the Denver Nuggets in the second round. So
Speaker 1: that's kind of less number one. And then the second
Speaker 1: example of that was the two thousand fifteen Warriors kind
Speaker 1: of a similar thing. They won sixties seven games had
Speaker 1: they were, and they were beating teams, like soundly beating teams,
Speaker 1: and all of this pessimism was directed towards the Warriors. Oh,
Speaker 1: they relied too much on jump shots. Steph Curry and
Speaker 1: Clay Thompson are you know, not good defensive players. And
Speaker 1: all the negativity that was directed towards them and then
Speaker 1: guess what happened. They kicked everyone's ass in that postseason run. Yes,
Speaker 1: they had some injury luck, but they got the trophy
Speaker 1: at the end of the day. So, like you know,
Speaker 1: even last year, Celtics are a good example of this.
Speaker 1: From the you know, middle of January to the end
Speaker 1: of the year, they kicked everyone's ass. And really, if
Speaker 1: it wasn't for an outstanding Steph Curry performance and a
Speaker 1: really bad Jayson Tatum for Forman's, they probably would have
Speaker 1: won the title last year. So when a team is
Speaker 1: just killing everybody, we should probably pay close attention to it. Now.
Speaker 1: To be clear, I'm not picking them over either of
Speaker 1: Milwaukee or Golden State because of the respect I have
Speaker 1: for Janice and the respect I have for Steph. But
Speaker 1: with the ascent of Jayson Tatum this year and the
Speaker 1: ascent of Jalen Brown and how good they've been, I
Speaker 1: don't feel good about it, and I would not be
Speaker 1: surprised if I ended up being wrong at the end
Speaker 1: of the day. Alright, moving on to the Philadelphia is
Speaker 1: seventy six ers, So they're up to twelve and nine now,
Speaker 1: thanks in large part two of three and one stretch
Speaker 1: with no Joe hell Embiid, no Tires Maxie, and no
Speaker 1: James Harden, and they've succeeded in that stretch based on
Speaker 1: three things their defense, Tobias Harris and Joel Embiad obviously,
Speaker 1: and I'm not just talking about the three and one stretch,
Speaker 1: but in general, since the Maxie and Hardened injuries, the
Speaker 1: Sixers have been pretty good. And it's been because of
Speaker 1: those three guys, Joel Embid, Tobias Harris, well, those two
Speaker 1: guys in their defense. So they're up to third the
Speaker 1: league in defensive rating, in large part because they fixed
Speaker 1: their transition defense. If you guys, remember they had the
Speaker 1: worst transition defense in the league to start the year.
Speaker 1: There's them in the Brooklyn Nets that were right there
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the league. But since the beginning
Speaker 1: of November, so for a month now, the Sixers have
Speaker 1: allowed just one point zero seven points per transition play,
Speaker 1: which is second best in the league. So shout out
Speaker 1: to Doc Rivers for addressing and fixing that transition defense problem. Remember,
Speaker 1: defense will carry you through offensive struggles, it will keep
Speaker 1: you in games and give you a chance to win,
Speaker 1: and it helps you churn out wins in particular against
Speaker 1: bad teams. So for instance, like you gotta back to
Speaker 1: back uh set of games against the Orlando Magic and
Speaker 1: Joel embiids out, Tyrese Maxi's out, you know, James Harden
Speaker 1: is out. You don't have a ton of talent. But
Speaker 1: they defended extremely well. They had a one oh five
Speaker 1: defensive rating in both of those games, and they were
Speaker 1: never really truly threatened and they won both of them. Um,
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris, we shouted him out in that game where
Speaker 1: they beat the net last week. But he's really done
Speaker 1: a nice job stepping into a larger role because of
Speaker 1: the injuries, and he's been awesome. Remember he got a
Speaker 1: Max contract because of what he could do in a
Speaker 1: larger role, and then he was almost immediately slotted down
Speaker 1: into a smaller role. And so it's good to see
Speaker 1: that he has, you know, stayed sharp in those more
Speaker 1: on ball responsibilities so that when he had to step
Speaker 1: into this role he could succeed. Since the James Harden injury,
Speaker 1: Tobias Harris is averaging twenty points per game on fifty
Speaker 1: six percent true shooting. The Sixers are six and one
Speaker 1: this year. When Tobias Harris scores at least twenty points.
Speaker 1: He's been really good at isolation situations one point one
Speaker 1: three points per possession, which is the eighty four percentile
Speaker 1: including passes. And then he's scoring really well out of
Speaker 1: the post, although he's not passing well, and he's been
Speaker 1: really good attacking closeouts. Just another big, strong wing that
Speaker 1: is skilled, in versatile and that sort of thing is
Speaker 1: just gonna find a way to succeed in the NBA
Speaker 1: these days. Joel Embiid So obviously he's been out of
Speaker 1: the lineup a little bit recently, but when he's been healthy,
Speaker 1: he's been amazing this season. He had thirty eight and
Speaker 1: seven against the Hawks on Monday. He's scoring a career
Speaker 1: high thirty two points per game on a ridiculous sixty
Speaker 1: shooting percentage, which is the second best efficiency mark of
Speaker 1: his career, and he's been outstanding defensively. Just a bona
Speaker 1: fide superstar. You know, I know, Joel Embiad is not
Speaker 1: my favorite player, but um, that's more just aesthetic stuff,
Speaker 1: like some of his demeanor stuff and some stuff with
Speaker 1: his foul baiting which drives me insane. But you know,
Speaker 1: I've I've I tried to do my best to be
Speaker 1: fair about this stuff. And he's probably been one of
Speaker 1: the five best players in the league this year when
Speaker 1: he's been healthy. It's been health concerns that have been
Speaker 1: the problem there. And then Shake Milton. You know when
Speaker 1: when when Tyres Max and James Harden went down. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you lean more on Tobias Harris, Yeah, you lean more
Speaker 1: on Joel Embiid. Yeah, you can go more on wings.
Speaker 1: You're seeing a little bit more matist bol, right, But
Speaker 1: you needed somebody in that back court to step up,
Speaker 1: and d Anthony Melton honestly has struggled a little bit,
Speaker 1: but Shake Milton has just been shooting the laces off
Speaker 1: the damn back basketball during this stretch since the Tyrese
Speaker 1: Maxie injury, Shake Milton is averaging twenty three points per
Speaker 1: game on fifty seven percent from the field from three
Speaker 1: and nineties six percent from the foul line, kind of
Speaker 1: like replacing in that Seth Curry role that the Sixers
Speaker 1: used to use. Um he's got a six shooting percentage
Speaker 1: over this band. They needed somebody to step up, and
Speaker 1: Shake Milton has been that guy. If they can get
Speaker 1: de Anthony Melton to find his shot, they'll be cooking
Speaker 1: with gas and they'll still be really effective during this
Speaker 1: stretch without their back court. This is a super talented
Speaker 1: roster that has done a nice job of covering for
Speaker 1: their health issues with guys stepping into larger roles and
Speaker 1: succeeding locking in on the defensive end of the floor,
Speaker 1: which is under their control. And Joel Embid their superstar,
Speaker 1: playing like a bona fide superstar. Alright, moving on to
Speaker 1: the Pacers, these are gonna be pretty quick. So obviously
Speaker 1: we were gonna shout them out last night. We're talking
Speaker 1: about the Lakers, but they deserve some a little bit
Speaker 1: of a shout out. So they're playing really good, bad
Speaker 1: all right now. There fourth in the East in the
Speaker 1: standings right now, so they have home court in the
Speaker 1: first round, their tenth in offense and defense, Ben Mathurin's
Speaker 1: having a really nice rookie campaign. He's been thriving in
Speaker 1: the advantages that the Pacers create for him, so he's
Speaker 1: not having you know, like like most young players, he's
Speaker 1: struggling when he has to create his own shot in
Speaker 1: in stagnant situations like in a half court pick and
Speaker 1: roll set or in a late clock isolation set. Things
Speaker 1: along those lines, but when like on out of bounce
Speaker 1: plays and when they run their sets, when they get
Speaker 1: or in close out situations, when he's catching with the
Speaker 1: defenses in rotation, he's doing a really nice job of
Speaker 1: scoring in those situations with just a simple combination of
Speaker 1: a good three point shot, a really nice floater with
Speaker 1: good lift and and shoots it high and soft, and
Speaker 1: then ability to finish around the rim. Uh. That combination,
Speaker 1: those three things together have made him really good at
Speaker 1: extending those advantages and finishing plays. They they run this
Speaker 1: baseline out of bounce like you pacers fans will recognize
Speaker 1: that they've run it all season, but basically, uh, Like,
Speaker 1: he'll start on the left side of the floor and
Speaker 1: they'll either set a single screen at the block or
Speaker 1: they'll set like an elevator screen where they've got two
Speaker 1: like a screener at one block and then on another block,
Speaker 1: and they'll shut the door as Ben runs through. But
Speaker 1: he'll run through the right corner and he'll either turn
Speaker 1: catch and turn and shoot, or he'll curl around it
Speaker 1: and work along the baseline to get back to the
Speaker 1: basket and score. And uh, they ran it twice in
Speaker 1: twice in that fourth quarter against the Lakers the other night.
Speaker 1: Both times he read the defensive player and curled around
Speaker 1: and knocked down a float or along the baseline. Again,
Speaker 1: both of them were a little bit off, but he
Speaker 1: shoots it so soft and so high that he got
Speaker 1: that He got the bounce on both of them. Um.
Speaker 1: He's also having a lot of success attacking the Raymond transition. Again,
Speaker 1: He's got a long ways to go as a primary
Speaker 1: shot creator, but that's the same for all young guards
Speaker 1: in the league. But he does look like a really
Speaker 1: nice pick up for Kevin Pritchard in the pay Sers.
Speaker 1: Miles Turner has completely returned to form. He's playing the
Speaker 1: best basketball of his career. His last eleven games. He's
Speaker 1: averaging twenty points and nine rebounds, two point three blocks
Speaker 1: per game, and shooting from three on over four attempts.
Speaker 1: Overall's shooting fifty from the field. Miles Turner has been
Speaker 1: so damn good that I I'm stunned that the Lakers
Speaker 1: have not been begging the Pacers to make that deal now.
Speaker 1: My guests uh Joan Jovan Buja went on um Alan
Speaker 1: Silwa's podcast this morning I Believe and specifically said that
Speaker 1: the Lakers are leaning towards a deal that would send
Speaker 1: something like Kendrick Nunn and Patrick Beverley in a first
Speaker 1: instead of a Russell Westbrook centric deal, and uh, if
Speaker 1: they do something along those lines, uh that I would
Speaker 1: be interested to see if they like kind of threw
Speaker 1: another minimum contract in there and tried to target just
Speaker 1: Miles Turner rather than Buddy Heals, giving them a legit,
Speaker 1: big identity that they can go to. But the shout
Speaker 1: out to Miles Turner, He's and awesome. And then the
Speaker 1: big guy with the Pacers, we gotta shout out as
Speaker 1: Tyrese Haliburton. He's quickly become one of the best passers
Speaker 1: that we have in the league. And you guys know
Speaker 1: how much I value high level playmaking. It's always been
Speaker 1: my favorite NBA skill set because you know, all all
Speaker 1: NBA players, especially in this era, are getting so good
Speaker 1: at basic things three point shooting, wonderable pull ups, floaters, driving,
Speaker 1: and kicking. The league in general is getting a lot
Speaker 1: better at extending advantages and finishing plays. So having guys
Speaker 1: that can beat that initial wall of the defense to
Speaker 1: get them into rotation is so incredibly valuable, and Tires
Speaker 1: is doing that an extremely high level. UM. He's got
Speaker 1: a fifty five effective field goal percentage on pull up
Speaker 1: jumpers this year, which is the You know, again, if
Speaker 1: you want to be a successful pick and roll ball
Speaker 1: handler or advantage creator in general, you have to have
Speaker 1: a pull up jump shot. You have to be able
Speaker 1: to dribble and beat people off the dribble, and you
Speaker 1: have to be able to see the floor well enough
Speaker 1: to pass. And Tyree's adding that legit pull up jumpers
Speaker 1: opened up everything for him this year. He's one of
Speaker 1: the highest volume pick and roll guys this year. So
Speaker 1: he's only in the sixty three percentile in terms of
Speaker 1: point per possession, but he's run four hundred and forty
Speaker 1: pick and rolls this year. It's one of the foundational
Speaker 1: pieces of that Pacers offense, and he's getting more than
Speaker 1: one point per possession out of it, which is really good.
Speaker 1: That means that in a set defense situation like half court,
Speaker 1: everyone's trapped. They can wear out and spam tyrese Alibert
Speaker 1: and pick and roll and get good stuff out of it.
Speaker 1: So shout out to the Pacers playing some good basketball.
Speaker 1: I would imagine they'll pull the plug eventually. Um, But
Speaker 1: the one the one thing that's weird there is, uh
Speaker 1: it be It would be a lot more interesting to
Speaker 1: look at them if Malcolm Brogden was around still, But
Speaker 1: then again, you gotta keep things open for guys like
Speaker 1: Benedict mather and to develop Alright, moving on to the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Timberwolf. So Karl Anthony Towns had a cash strain.
Speaker 1: Thankful it wasn't worse. Obviously, we were all terrified when
Speaker 1: we saw that video clip the pace. The Wolves really
Speaker 1: need to take their time with this one, because you
Speaker 1: have enough talent with Gobert and with Anthony Edwards and
Speaker 1: D'angela Russell, you have enough talent to play functional basketball
Speaker 1: during this stretch, so there's no reason to rush Carl
Speaker 1: Town's back. We've seen examples in NBA history, particularly with
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant in two thousand nineteen, where a cash strain
Speaker 1: when you rush back can turn into an achilles issues.
Speaker 1: So I hope they take their sweet time figuring this
Speaker 1: out and getting Carl Town's healthy. The nice thing, the
Speaker 1: silver lining, whatever you want to talk about, the glass
Speaker 1: half full way of looking at it is this will
Speaker 1: actually force the Timberwolves to play some more traditional lineup.
Speaker 1: So before we go any further. I just wanted to
Speaker 1: give you guys some line up data about the Gobert
Speaker 1: Towns fits. You guys can kind of see what it's
Speaker 1: looked like in different combinations. These numbers are per cleaning
Speaker 1: and glass by the way, which which filters out garbage time.
Speaker 1: So when Rudy Gobert and Carl Towns are both on
Speaker 1: the floor, the Wolves have a minus one net rating
Speaker 1: in eight hundred and thirty two possessions. Remember net rating
Speaker 1: is just differential per one hundred possessions, meaning they're getting
Speaker 1: outscored by one point per one hundred possessions. Um defense
Speaker 1: is good, not great with both of them on the floor,
Speaker 1: which is concerning because that's why you make it go
Speaker 1: bear trade. And then their offense is pretty bad. When
Speaker 1: Carl Towns is on and Rudy Gobert is off, they
Speaker 1: are dead even in six hundred and fifty seven possessions,
Speaker 1: a hundred and nineteen point five offensive rating, which is incredible,
Speaker 1: in a hundred and nineteen point five defensive rating, which
Speaker 1: is atrocious, So kind of what you would expect Gobart
Speaker 1: off in Towns holding things down on the center position,
Speaker 1: especially with all the perimeter defenders they lost in that
Speaker 1: deal with Gobert on in Towns off it's been bad there,
Speaker 1: minus eight point nine points per one hundred possessions and
Speaker 1: four hundred and thirty two possessions. Awful on both ends
Speaker 1: of the floor. That's got to be concerning because that's
Speaker 1: where you've got to go now with um with Carl
Speaker 1: Town's being out. So now as we kind of talk
Speaker 1: about what that's gonna look like, remember what worked for
Speaker 1: the Jazz. What worked for the Jazz was Rudy Gobert,
Speaker 1: everyone chasing guys off the three point line and funneling
Speaker 1: to him, and then on the offensive end tons of
Speaker 1: ball handling and shooting. Because Gobert's offensive limitations can be
Speaker 1: a problem, but he's a great screener, and he's a
Speaker 1: great vertical spacer, and he's a great offensive rebounders. So
Speaker 1: as long as the aggregate lineup spacing and shooting and
Speaker 1: ball handling is good enough, you can still run a
Speaker 1: really successful offense with him. The problem is, this is
Speaker 1: what's crazy. When Gobert has been on the floor without
Speaker 1: Carl Towns this year, the most used lineup for the
Speaker 1: Timberwolves has involved nas Read So they're playing two bigs
Speaker 1: even without Carl Towns on the floor, which just doesn't
Speaker 1: make any sense. That lineup is Jordan McLoughlin, Jalen Noel,
Speaker 1: Torrian Prince, nas Read and Rudy Gobert. That's the most
Speaker 1: commonly used Gobert no Town's lineup. They've played twenty seven possessions,
Speaker 1: so obviously a little bit low volume, but they've only
Speaker 1: had a seventy offensive right with that group just to
Speaker 1: not enough ball handling, not enough shooting. Um. There are
Speaker 1: some go Bear lineups that have worked. If you plug
Speaker 1: in Anthony Edwards for nas Read and now it's Jordan McLoughlin,
Speaker 1: Jalen Noel, Torrian Prince Anthony Edwards already Gobert their plus
Speaker 1: thirty two net and they have a hundred and forty
Speaker 1: two offensive rating, albeit in a somewhat small sample size
Speaker 1: only nineteen possessions um. So again, like the Gobert lineups
Speaker 1: have primarily been bench groupings, they're playing him a lot
Speaker 1: with Jalen Noel, playing him a lot with Jordan McLoughlin.
Speaker 1: That's gonna change. The Gobert by himself lineups are now
Speaker 1: going to be a lot of like D'Angelo Russell Anthony Edwards,
Speaker 1: And what I'd like to see them do is just
Speaker 1: go with two wings and so go with like Torrian
Speaker 1: Prince and Jada McDaniels, for instance, or you know, Kyle
Speaker 1: Anderson and Jada McDaniels, and just lean on like you know,
Speaker 1: a better version of the Jazz because the Jazz just
Speaker 1: didn't quite have the perimeter defenders. But Kyle Anderson is
Speaker 1: a really good perimeter defender. Torrian Prince is a really
Speaker 1: good perimeter defender. Jaden McDaniels is a good perimeter defender.
Speaker 1: Even Anthony Edwards when he's locked in, is a good
Speaker 1: perimeter defender. So they could functionally have some groupings that
Speaker 1: are better versions of what the Utah Jazz do. They
Speaker 1: just need to actually put those groupings together now that
Speaker 1: Carl Towns is out of the rotation and they actually
Speaker 1: moved those Golbert lineups into those starting groups um specifically
Speaker 1: when they and now I've tried to find some data.
Speaker 1: They don't have a ton of data when those types
Speaker 1: of groups are playing again because the starters have usually
Speaker 1: included Cat. But when they've played dil ant, Torrian Prince,
Speaker 1: Jada McDaniels and Rudy there plus forty four net rating,
Speaker 1: although in a early small sample size, um, you could
Speaker 1: also see a little bit of Jalen a Well mixed
Speaker 1: in there, because he's a little bit better ball handler
Speaker 1: and has a little bit more of that natural scoring feel.
Speaker 1: But to be clear, at this point, when they have
Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert with the starting backcourt, so Anthony Edwards in
Speaker 1: D'Angelo Russell, no Carl Town's, no nas reads, so Rudy
Speaker 1: Gobert with the starting backcourt and no other big they
Speaker 1: are minus fifteen net rating in sixty in sixty three possessions,
Speaker 1: which is pretty bad. So they're going to have to
Speaker 1: figure out how to be successful with those groupings. They
Speaker 1: should be. That doesn't actually that data doesn't even make
Speaker 1: sense to me. They should be better than that. They're
Speaker 1: gonna have to figure that out or the losses will
Speaker 1: pile up. And this is where I want to talk
Speaker 1: about Anthony Edwards for a minute, because he's been one
Speaker 1: of the main culprits of the Wolves rough start. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I was really high on him coming out
Speaker 1: of last season. I believe I remember correctly. I had
Speaker 1: him twenty in my player rankings, but he was he
Speaker 1: was somewhere in my player rankings, which is higher than
Speaker 1: most people had him, and it was I just saw
Speaker 1: him as a superstar on the rise, a combination of
Speaker 1: like I called him Mini Lebron because he's so big
Speaker 1: and strong as a downhill threat that bodies just bounced
Speaker 1: off of him on his way to the rim. And
Speaker 1: then he had a good pull up jump shot to
Speaker 1: end last season. Combine that with what he can do
Speaker 1: defensively when he's locked in, and you see a superstar
Speaker 1: in the making. But his pull up jump shooting has
Speaker 1: been bad this year, just straight up bad. He's shooting
Speaker 1: just thirty or percent on dribble jumpers this year, and
Speaker 1: as a result, his pick and roll shot creation has
Speaker 1: been bad. The Timberwolves have scored just a hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty seven points and two hundred and seven Anthony Edwards
Speaker 1: picking rolls counting passes, which is in the thirty six percentile.
Speaker 1: Just not good enough. And I was watching a bunch
Speaker 1: of film on it yesterday. He's still deadly when he's
Speaker 1: going downhill and he's finishing really well around the rim.
Speaker 1: It's just the pull up jump. It's just the pull
Speaker 1: up jump shooting. That's causing problems. And the other thing
Speaker 1: too that I've noticed too is if he doesn't like
Speaker 1: the spacing, Like, if he likes his spacing, he's going
Speaker 1: downhill and he's scoring. But if he doesn't like the
Speaker 1: spacing and he doesn't get to his pull up jump shot,
Speaker 1: instead of like going downhill anyway and trying the defense
Speaker 1: even closer and making that kickout pass or at least
Speaker 1: the defenses in rotation, he'll come off the screen, decide
Speaker 1: he doesn't like the spacing and just throw a swing pass.
Speaker 1: And so I like to see Aunt just be a
Speaker 1: little bit more aggressive, even if he doesn't like what
Speaker 1: he's seeing, just understanding what advantage he can create just
Speaker 1: by you know, taking that extra dribble downhill with some
Speaker 1: with some force and then elevating and kicking to somebody
Speaker 1: on the wing, giving them a rotation situation rather than
Speaker 1: just to kick out pass that doesn't accomplish anything um
Speaker 1: and it's also only getting about a point per iceo,
Speaker 1: which is only slightly above average. D'Angel Russell has actually
Speaker 1: been pretty solid as a shot creator. So I don't
Speaker 1: you know he D'Angel Russell is what he is, you know,
Speaker 1: I I don't think he's considered part of the future
Speaker 1: in Minnesota, but he's a perfectly fine shot creator in
Speaker 1: the NBA, especially on the second side. You know, coming
Speaker 1: into the season, we talked about when they traded when
Speaker 1: they made that trade, because Patrick Beverley has been bad
Speaker 1: for the Lakers this year, but he was good for
Speaker 1: the Timberwolves last year. And you know, Timberwolves fans have
Speaker 1: some complaints about Malik Beasley and his commitment on the
Speaker 1: defensive end of the floor stuff like that. I actually
Speaker 1: thought Mollie Beasley was pretty good for them last year,
Speaker 1: and he shoots the ship out of the basketball. They
Speaker 1: were depending after that trade on guys like Jordan McLoughlin
Speaker 1: and Jaylen Nowell to take steps up into those roles,
Speaker 1: and they just simply have not been good enough. Uh,
Speaker 1: those two guys are going to have to start playing
Speaker 1: better if the Wolves are gonna have success on the
Speaker 1: level that they had last year. I was low on
Speaker 1: the Wolves coming into the season, as you guys know,
Speaker 1: I'm still low on them. But there is enough talent
Speaker 1: on this roster to be successful without Cat as long
Speaker 1: as they lean into that Jazz model. Lots of ball
Speaker 1: handling and shooting around Carl, around Rudy Gobert, and then
Speaker 1: focusing in on the defensive end of the floor, getting
Speaker 1: into that, you know, a classic jazz style screen and
Speaker 1: roll to the basket, try to get Anthony Edwards and
Speaker 1: Deangel Russell downhill and funneling guys to go bear on
Speaker 1: the other end of the floor. As long as Anthony
Speaker 1: Edwards gets back on track with the better spacing in
Speaker 1: Jalen the well ends up kind of taking that step up.
Speaker 1: I'm not I don't think much of Jordan McLoughlin, but
Speaker 1: I actually like Jealen no Wells game a lot. If
Speaker 1: he kind of steps up into that role, they will
Speaker 1: hit a groove um pretty soon, I think, And I
Speaker 1: actually think in the long run, I think this is
Speaker 1: not a Carl Town's commentary. This is just a commentary
Speaker 1: on the team. I think in the long run, they're
Speaker 1: gonna hit a stride here, and I think they're gonna
Speaker 1: play some pretty good basketball. You know. Um, it's just
Speaker 1: a fundamental team construct thing that I disagree with. If
Speaker 1: you have two bigs, the lineups are too slow footed
Speaker 1: and there's not enough ball handling. So I think I
Speaker 1: think they're gonna actually hit a little bit of a
Speaker 1: stride here without Gobert. All right, guys, that is all
Speaker 1: I have for today. Again, I sincerely apologize for the
Speaker 1: technical difficulties yesterday. We will be back tomorrow covering all
Speaker 1: of tonight's games as always. I sincerely appreciate your support
Speaker 1: and I'll see you guys next time. The volume