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Speaker 1: to hoops tonight, presented by Fanduel here at the volume.

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Speaker 1: Happy Tuesday everybody. I hope all of you guys are

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Speaker 1: having a great start to your week. Moving right along

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Speaker 1: with our power rankings today with number seven, the Phoenix

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Speaker 1: Suns Latinama had the best record in the league last

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Speaker 1: year and a disappointing, embarrassing loss at home in the

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Speaker 1: second round to the Dallas Mavericks. You guys know the

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Speaker 1: drill before we get started. Subscribe to the volumes youtube

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Speaker 1: channels so you don't miss any more of our videos.

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Speaker 1: Follow me on twitter at underscore Jason Lts. You guys

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Speaker 1: don't miss any show announcements. And last but not least,

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Speaker 1: it for whatever reason you can't get over to youtube

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Speaker 1: to finish one of these shows, we do have them

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Speaker 1: in podcast form, wherever you get your podcasts. Under hoops tonight,

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Speaker 1: let's not waste any more time. Let's let's talk some basketball.

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Speaker 1: So last year the Phoenix Suns Sixty four and eighteen,

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Speaker 1: best record in the league. They were fifth in offense

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Speaker 1: and third in defense, first overall in net rating, meaning

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Speaker 1: they were the most dominant basketball team on the scoreboard

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Speaker 1: throughout the regular season, you know, before the playoffs. For

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Speaker 1: those of you guys who, uh, we're following the show.

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Speaker 1: Back then I consistently said that I thought they were

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Speaker 1: the most talented roster in the league from top to bottom.

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Speaker 1: I no longer think that's true that I think Boston

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Speaker 1: has barely eclipsed them in terms of in terms of

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Speaker 1: overall talent with the acquisition of Malcolm, Malcolm Brogden, but

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Speaker 1: they are still among the top tier teams in the

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Speaker 1: League in terms of top to bottom talent. The types

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Speaker 1: of rotation players they have are just better at the

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Speaker 1: things that they do than most of the mid level

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Speaker 1: rotation players that you see elsewhere in the league, even

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Speaker 1: though don't have the top end talent. Now the question

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Speaker 1: that I had going into this playoff run was, if

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Speaker 1: you guys remember, there's kind of like a philosophical thing

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Speaker 1: that I've been believing in in recent years, and it's

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Speaker 1: that as the League has gone more spaced out, as

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Speaker 1: the League has gone more in on perimeter players, now

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Speaker 1: you're seeing most lineups including four perimeter players and one

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Speaker 1: player that's doing dirty work as a big right. Back

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Speaker 1: in the day you might see two or three on

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Speaker 1: the floor and a lot of bruising players and the

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Speaker 1: paint really clogged and it became more important than ever

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Speaker 1: to have the best player on the floor that could

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Speaker 1: navigate that cramped environment better than your opponent could. But

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Speaker 1: as the game has become more spaced out, it's become

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Speaker 1: more important than ever to have multiple players on the

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Speaker 1: floor that can pass, dribble and shoot, and Phoenix capitalized

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Speaker 1: on this throughout the entire regular season. Everyone thinks about

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Speaker 1: their high pick and roll, and don't get me wrong,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about that in depth, but it goes

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Speaker 1: deeper than that. It's the players of around them in

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Speaker 1: their ability to play off of that attention. You guys

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Speaker 1: refer to. I refer to this concept as close out,

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Speaker 1: attacking or extending the advantage, basically getting a defense and

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Speaker 1: rotation multiple times so that you can get a wide

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Speaker 1: open look at the end. And if you guys remember,

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Speaker 1: right before the playoffs, I said this would be an

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Speaker 1: interesting case study in the direction the League is heading.

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Speaker 1: Is the league ready to be less superstar reliant? Is

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Speaker 1: the league ready to start to push the teams up

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Speaker 1: to the front, the teams that have more talented players

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Speaker 1: rather than the most talented player? And I said that

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Speaker 1: this playoff run would be a great indicator of that.

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Speaker 1: And what ended up happening? Chris Paul struggled, Devin Booker

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Speaker 1: got cold and they lost in the second round. So

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Speaker 1: the reality is maybe we're heading in that direction still,

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Speaker 1: maybe one day soon role players will have, you know,

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Speaker 1: as much impact on the game and mass two stars,

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Speaker 1: but we're not there yet. Luca, the best player on

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Speaker 1: the floor, strangled and destroyed and humiliated the Phoenix Suns,

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Speaker 1: even though they had a significantly more talented roster. That

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Speaker 1: is where the League is still at and I think

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Speaker 1: we're still probably a few years away from any sort

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Speaker 1: of change, if there ever is going to be one.

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Speaker 1: The Chris Paul Injury ended up being what reird it's

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Speaker 1: ugly had. It was very similar to what happened last year.

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Speaker 1: If you guys remember, or two years ago, Chris Paul

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Speaker 1: Pretty much through two games of the NBA finals looked

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Speaker 1: like a bona fide superstar and was dominant on both

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Speaker 1: ends of the floor. But then those last four games

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Speaker 1: against Milwaukee he looked unrecognizable. Not just not efficient, not

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Speaker 1: just struggling to make the shots he usually makes, he

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Speaker 1: was straight up being locked down to the point where

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Speaker 1: he was struggling even to get shots off. This this

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Speaker 1: year's playoff run followed a very similar path. Through his

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Speaker 1: first eight playoff games this year, Chris Paul averaged twenty

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Speaker 1: three points, five rebounds, tennis sists and shot fifty eight

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Speaker 1: percent from the field and in those games the sons

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Speaker 1: went six and two. But then over the course of

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Speaker 1: the last five games against Dallas, where they lost four

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Speaker 1: of those five games, he averaged nine points to go

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Speaker 1: with three rebounds and six assists, and shot just from

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Speaker 1: the field. So clearly, when that superstar level impact disappears

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Speaker 1: from Phoenix, they fall apart. And to be clear, it's

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Speaker 1: not just Chris Paul. Devin Booker, who was one of

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Speaker 1: the best pull up jump shooters in all of basketball

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Speaker 1: last year, shot just three for sixteen on pull up

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Speaker 1: jump shots in game six and in game seven of

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Speaker 1: that series. So his bread and butter, the thing that

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Speaker 1: he depends on, depends on so much to create offense

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Speaker 1: for himself, left him and he struggled to impact the

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Speaker 1: game in other ways. And when the star power fell

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Speaker 1: off for Phoenix, the entire team fell apart. And once

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Speaker 1: again it's just the latest indicator that, as the game

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Speaker 1: has evolved, the best basketball player on the floor concept

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Speaker 1: remains incredibly important to winning basketball games, especially at the

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Speaker 1: highest levels. In the NBA playoffs. Looking at the off season,

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Speaker 1: they signed Damien Lee from the Golden State Warriors. He

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Speaker 1: was thirty three percent on catching shoot jumpers last year.

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Speaker 1: He drove closeouts really well. Super Good Athlete, really good

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Speaker 1: one leg jumper. Kind of reminds me of what I

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Speaker 1: was talking about with K CP yesterday talking about the

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Speaker 1: Denver Nuggets. He shot eight two percent at the rim

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Speaker 1: last year, which is outstanding. He's a good athlete, capable defender.

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Speaker 1: Just adds depth. I'm not sure that he'll play much,

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Speaker 1: but it does add depth. They also signed Joshua Cog

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Speaker 1: from the Minnesota Timberwolves. He shot just pent on catching

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Speaker 1: shoot three is a big part of why he fell

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Speaker 1: out of the rotation for Minnesota. He's a better defensive

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Speaker 1: player than Damien Lee was. Um, but once again, I

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Speaker 1: don't necessarily think he's gonna play all that much. I

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Speaker 1: just imagine with how deep they are on the wing already,

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Speaker 1: which we'll get to here the depth chart, I just

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Speaker 1: both of those guys their ancillary pieces. They're in UH

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Speaker 1: injury insurance, but I don't see either of them playing

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Speaker 1: as significant role this season. Um they traded for Jocquelandale

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Speaker 1: from the San Antonio Spurs. They also lost Javale McGee,

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Speaker 1: but they did resign bismack Beyonmbo. So they kind of

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Speaker 1: a similar three big type of UH type of rotation.

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Speaker 1: My guess is Beyonmbo ends up getting more minutes than Landale,

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Speaker 1: but we'll see when he gets into training camp. For

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Speaker 1: All intents and purposes they're running you back, and I

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Speaker 1: don't blame them. They won sixty four games, but they

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Speaker 1: did not address the key issue. Now, in their defense,

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Speaker 1: I think they saw Kevin Durant as that option, but

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Speaker 1: they were unrealistic in their expectation that they could get

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Speaker 1: Kevin Durant. In my opinion, I never thought that Brooklyn

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Speaker 1: would be interested in what they had to offer, and

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Speaker 1: so from that standpoint, I I it's unfortunate that they

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Speaker 1: didn't address the issue and I'd be really interested to

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Speaker 1: see if they try to during this season. One of

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Speaker 1: the biggest questions I have for this particular Phoenix Suns

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Speaker 1: team is whether or not they look even remotely similar

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Speaker 1: after the trade deadline. I could see them doing something

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Speaker 1: along the line of flipping like a Cam Johnson and

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Speaker 1: a Jay crowder for a better wing in hopes of

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Speaker 1: getting a more impactful two way wing somewhere on the roster.

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Speaker 1: You know, you could see a big part it's gonna

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Speaker 1: be how much Michael Bridges Develops as well, because they

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Speaker 1: need more offense when Chris Paul and Devin Booker Struggle.

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Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, the this roster

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Speaker 1: right now, is currently constructed, does not have enough top

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Speaker 1: end talent that's reliable deep into the playoffs to beat

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Speaker 1: the best teams in the League. That's why I have

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Speaker 1: them down at number seven. You know, this tier. We

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Speaker 1: talked earlier about all the tiers of championship contenders, and

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Speaker 1: I had the non contenders and then I had the

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Speaker 1: puncher's chance contenders, which are the teams that didn't have

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Speaker 1: as much talent as the top teams in the league,

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Speaker 1: but they just have this world beating star that, if

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Speaker 1: he gets hot, he could beat anybody, like a Lebron,

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Speaker 1: like a UH Nicol Yogis, like a Donovan Mitchell, like

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Speaker 1: a you know like that. That's the type of of

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Speaker 1: of team that I was referring to in that tier.

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Speaker 1: We are now entering into the second tier, the tier

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Speaker 1: that's beneath the top tier contenders, and I'm referring to

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Speaker 1: this tier as the if things go right tier. These

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Speaker 1: are teams, and I only have three of them and

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Speaker 1: I think all three of them will make sense to

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Speaker 1: you guys after you hear them, and you'll get to

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Speaker 1: both of them this week on Wednesday and Thursday. This

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Speaker 1: tier of basketball teams, to me, is teams that have

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Speaker 1: unbelievable amounts of talent and absolutely should be able to

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Speaker 1: contend based on what they look like on paper. But

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Speaker 1: there's big question marks. And the other two teams on

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Speaker 1: this tier, their question marks are different and a lot

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Speaker 1: of them are related to their stars, which are higher

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Speaker 1: level players. But with the sons, it's whether or not

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Speaker 1: Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Michael Bridges and Deandre Ayton together

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Speaker 1: can manifest as the impact of a true superstar in

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Speaker 1: a playoff series. They have not been able to do

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Speaker 1: so in the previous two seasons. This is their big

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Speaker 1: wild card this season. There are plenty talented. They have

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Speaker 1: enough talented to hang with, talent to hang with the

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Speaker 1: best teams in the League, but do they have enough

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Speaker 1: star power to get the job done? That's their biggest

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Speaker 1: question mark. Looking at the depth chart, at the guard position,

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Speaker 1: they have CP three, Devin Booker, Landry Shammitt and campaign

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Speaker 1: on the wing, super deep mchaal bridges, Jay crowder, Cam Johnson, Tory,

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Speaker 1: Craig Damien, Lee, Josh a cog and then bigs deandre Ayton,

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Speaker 1: Bismack Biyombo and Jack Landale. So moving on to the

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Speaker 1: offensive end of the floor, and again, uh, the way

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Speaker 1: we do this is we talked about the offense, we

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Speaker 1: talked about the defense, we talked about what the best

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Speaker 1: case scenario is for this team, what the worst case

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Speaker 1: scenario is for this team, and then we talked about

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Speaker 1: their biggest x factor, the player or concept that has

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Speaker 1: the biggest variance between what the team will end up

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Speaker 1: looking like at the end of the day. So obviously

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Speaker 1: on the offensive end of the four with the with

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Speaker 1: the sons, you can't start anywhere. But with pick and roll.

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Speaker 1: They were sixth in ball handler frequency in pick and

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Speaker 1: roll and seventh and ball handler efficiency in pick and roll.

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Speaker 1: That's obviously very good. They were second in Rollman frequency

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Speaker 1: in second in rollman efficiency. This is is a big

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Speaker 1: testament to Chris Paul. Most of the pick and roll

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Speaker 1: teams in the League don't utilize their rollman very much.

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Speaker 1: Phoenix US utilizes their rollman a ton and a huge

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Speaker 1: part of this is Chris Paul in his ability to

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Speaker 1: navigate pick and roll and all of the passing angles

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Speaker 1: that he knows and understands to get deandre in the

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Speaker 1: ball in places where he can put the ball in

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Speaker 1: the basket. Also Testament to deandre. And he's got great

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Speaker 1: hands and can catch and finish easily around the rim.

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Speaker 1: Both of those are are are deeply important to be

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Speaker 1: utilizing a rollman and pick and roll. The most common

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Speaker 1: variation of pick and roll that they uses Spain pick

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Speaker 1: and roll. We did a whole video on this couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks ago. I can't remember exactly where it is. Um,

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Speaker 1: it was when I had the big ugly dresser behind me.

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Speaker 1: It was one of those videos. But I did some

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Speaker 1: video breakdown and I actually included some footage, Um, from

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Speaker 1: the Phoenix Suns in that clip. So you can find

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Speaker 1: a deeper breakdown of that if you guys go back

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Speaker 1: further into our feed. But with Phoenix Suns, with the

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Speaker 1: Phoenix Suns, Spain pick and roll is their foundational offensive

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Speaker 1: concept and, Um, I'm gonna go too deep into it,

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Speaker 1: but the gist of the concept is having a shooter

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Speaker 1: underneath the basket when you run pick and roll and

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Speaker 1: having that shooter either just simply replaced to the top

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Speaker 1: of the key or backscreen for the Rollman on his

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Speaker 1: way to the top of the key, and it basically

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Speaker 1: makes your makes the defense make a decision about whether

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Speaker 1: or not they want to send a second defender towards

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Speaker 1: the Rollman or stay home with the shooter, leaving the

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Speaker 1: Rollman with a wide open lane running towards the rim.

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Speaker 1: It just is a complication in pick and roll that

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Speaker 1: makes it extremely difficult to guard. It's one of the

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Speaker 1: most common pick and roll concepts that you'll see around

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Speaker 1: the league. As I've been doing this uh this series,

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Speaker 1: almost every team that we've watched has had a team

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Speaker 1: had stretches of the game where they run Spain pick

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Speaker 1: and roll. It depends on it depends on personnel you

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Speaker 1: need in order to run Spain pick and roll properly.

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Speaker 1: You need a legitimate pick and roll ball handler that

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Speaker 1: can shoot off the dribble that forces the guard to

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Speaker 1: chase over the top. From there, that guard needs to

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Speaker 1: be able to navigate and make reads, so he also

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Speaker 1: needs to be a gifted passer. You need a roll

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Speaker 1: man that has vertical spacing and the ability to catch

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Speaker 1: and finish around the rim, and then you need a

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Speaker 1: legitimate shooter that forces the defense to make decisions. If

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Speaker 1: he can't shoot as he's replacing to the top of

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Speaker 1: the key, they'll just ignore him and stay home. On

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Speaker 1: the Rollman, the Phoenix Suns have the ideal personnel to

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Speaker 1: run Spain pick and roll because you've got Chris Paul,

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Speaker 1: an outstanding off the dribble shooter and an outstanding passer

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Speaker 1: that's gonna work his way down the lane, deandre ating,

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Speaker 1: an excellent roleman and DEF and Booker, one of the

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Speaker 1: best movement shooters that we have in the league. When

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Speaker 1: you put the three of them together, it's a deadly concept.

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Speaker 1: Now where the suns deserve extra credit here because, like,

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Speaker 1: if you're gonna run Spain pick and roll every time

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Speaker 1: down the floor, you're gonna run into some issues just

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Speaker 1: in terms of predictability and defense is getting used to

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Speaker 1: how to guard you. Phoenix is really good at at

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Speaker 1: adding complications to their Spain pick and roll to make

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Speaker 1: it harder to guard. So the most frequent one that

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Speaker 1: I see is just screening actions that flow into the

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Speaker 1: Spain pick and roll. So a lot of times they'll

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Speaker 1: like pre screen for Devin Booker. So Imagine Devin Booker

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Speaker 1: on the wing and Paul and Eton are getting ready

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Speaker 1: to run a pick and roll. They'll have like Jay

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Speaker 1: crowder go and set a cross screen for Devin Booker

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Speaker 1: to then cut down to the basket and then immediately

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Speaker 1: flow into the Spain pick and roll. Now devin Booker's

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Speaker 1: man is already trailing the play. So with him already

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Speaker 1: trailing to play, it's like running a three on two

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Speaker 1: and a half. You know what I mean, because that

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Speaker 1: third defender in the pick and roll is late to

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Speaker 1: get there, which makes it way harder for him to

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Speaker 1: guard it. The way that the coach is probably drawn

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Speaker 1: up as his scheme for how to guard the Spain

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Speaker 1: pick and roll right, little complications like that, more screening

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Speaker 1: actions just make it harder to defend. It just makes

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Speaker 1: your defenders have to to make more decisions in order

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Speaker 1: to stop the action. Now the other thing that they'll

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Speaker 1: do is it's not as simple as just booker backscreening

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Speaker 1: for Eighton as he's rolling down the lane. They'll sometimes

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Speaker 1: have eighton screen for Booker as he's rolling down the lane.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes booker will go like he's gonna go to the

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Speaker 1: top of the key but then flare out to the

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Speaker 1: wing really quick. The idea there is booker's defender might

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Speaker 1: be prepared to hedge and, like and like, bump and

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Speaker 1: Chuck Ayton as he's rolling down the lane and then

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Speaker 1: go out, but as he's lunging to tag Aighton, booker

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Speaker 1: just sprints out to the wing and he can get

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Speaker 1: a shot there. Bottom line is it's it's never the

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Speaker 1: exact same thing. It's always these little complications that are

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Speaker 1: added into their pick and roll concept to keep defenses

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Speaker 1: on their toes and to make it so it's not repetitive.

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Speaker 1: But the gist of their entire offense is Devin Booker

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Speaker 1: and Chris Paul using deandre Ayton as a screener, rolling

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Speaker 1: to the Rim and making reads out of it. It's

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Speaker 1: not always Spain pick and roll. They'll also do things

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Speaker 1: like they'll have uh, you know, Chris Paul come off

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Speaker 1: of a pick and roll with deandre Ayton and then

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Speaker 1: immediately flow into a dribble handoff with booker coming out

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Speaker 1: of the corner, and then booker will come off of

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Speaker 1: eight and and roll down the lane. But at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, like I said, the core concept

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Speaker 1: is Eighton as a screener, then rolling to the R

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Speaker 1: him and booker and CP three making reads out of that.

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Speaker 1: One of the most important aspects to how this entire

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Speaker 1: system works, like I said, is their off ball players.

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Speaker 1: We talked about this earlier with the importance of role

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Speaker 1: players in their ability to dribble, pass and shoot. So

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Speaker 1: let's say that UH Phoenix is killing you with their

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Speaker 1: Spain pick and roll right. So like uh Booker's man

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Speaker 1: has to continually hedge or help on the role man

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Speaker 1: as bookers replacing to the top of the key. What's

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Speaker 1: the most frequent what's the most obvious way to counter that?

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Speaker 1: You send a fourth defender. You ask the defender in

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Speaker 1: the week side corner to be the one that comes

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Speaker 1: in and tags and helps with Aton, and then you

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Speaker 1: have booker's man stay home. What does that open up?

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Speaker 1: It opens up the skip pass, a pass that CP

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Speaker 1: three will relentlessly make if you offer help out of

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Speaker 1: the week side. And this is where it's advantageous to

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Speaker 1: have players like Mikhail bridges, who's greated attacking closeouts, players

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Speaker 1: like you know uh, players like Cam John, who's excellent

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Speaker 1: at attacking closeouts. You know even Jay crowd or even

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Speaker 1: though he can be very streaky. He's very capable of

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Speaker 1: getting hot, knocking down threes and attacking closeouts, things along

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Speaker 1: those lines. These sons were fifth in spot up efficiency

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Speaker 1: this year, in meaning in those situations where a defender

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Speaker 1: is closing out a son's player and driving to the

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Speaker 1: basket or shooting. In those specific situations they scored better

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Speaker 1: than all but four of the teams in the League,

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Speaker 1: and I I put the great the lion share of

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Speaker 1: that credit on just the quality of role players that

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Speaker 1: they have. In post up situations, they were fifteenth and

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Speaker 1: frequency and sixth and efficiency. Most of these possessions were

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Speaker 1: deandre Eton punishing mismatches out of pick and roll. So

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Speaker 1: they get, I think, about four post ups the game,

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Speaker 1: but three of them were deandre and usually that other

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Speaker 1: one is either Michail bridges on very rare occasions, or

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Speaker 1: a little bit of Devin Booker, but essentially like what

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Speaker 1: Chris Paul will do sometimes, and you know Luca actually

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Speaker 1: did this to the sons quite a bit and we'll

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Speaker 1: talk about it here in just a it when we

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Speaker 1: get to the defensive end of the floor, but sometimes

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Speaker 1: Chris Paul will deliberately, instead of coming over the top

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Speaker 1: of the screen and going downhill into the Rollman, the

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Speaker 1: the screen defender, the person who's defending the roll man.

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Speaker 1: He'll go out wide and drag the screen defender out

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Speaker 1: with him to force a switch. And the idea there

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Speaker 1: is think of it like this. If Chris Paul goes

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Speaker 1: straight downhill towards the rim, then the screen defender can

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Speaker 1: somehow split the difference between eight and rolling down on

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Speaker 1: his right side and Paul coming towards him on his

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Speaker 1: left side. But if Paul goes out towards the wing,

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Speaker 1: now I kind of have to corral him because he's

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Speaker 1: such a good pull up jump shooter and if I

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Speaker 1: don't he's gonna stop and pop from fifteen feet every time. Now,

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Speaker 1: as I work my way out, I can no longer

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Speaker 1: deal with the rollman and so, as a result, whoever's

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Speaker 1: guarding CP three now has to peel off of CP

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Speaker 1: three to dive down to the big man and box

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Speaker 1: him out of the lane while I go out to

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Speaker 1: Chris Paul. Then what happens? Chris Paul will pull the

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Speaker 1: ball out to the three point eight and will quick

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Speaker 1: seal catch and turn and finish over his left shoulder.

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Speaker 1: Eighton posted up three times per game last year and

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Speaker 1: scored one point zero four points per possession, which is

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Speaker 1: excellent as a post player in this league. I think

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Speaker 1: he was right around the seventy five percentile. The other

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Speaker 1: big thing that, and again this is a lot of this,

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Speaker 1: is coming out of Spain pick and roll, but they

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Speaker 1: were one of the most frequent off screen teams in

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Speaker 1: the League. They were fourth in frequency and average one

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Speaker 1: point zero two points per possession. Some of this is

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Speaker 1: like Landry Shammitt in some of the plays that they

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Speaker 1: run for him where he's coming off of double screens

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Speaker 1: and stuff like that. That's pretty traditional movement. Shooting. Jay

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Speaker 1: crowder in a lot of off ball situations will get

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Speaker 1: like a pin down and come up to the wing

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Speaker 1: and he'll come up and shoot a catch and shoot three.

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Speaker 1: That counts as an off screen action. The most frequent

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Speaker 1: one here, though, is Devin Booker and Spain pick and roll. Technically,

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Speaker 1: if Devin Booker is rolling, is starting under the basket

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Speaker 1: and he replaces to the top of the key and

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Speaker 1: Eighton on his way down to the rim bumps into

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Speaker 1: Booker's man. They call that and off the catch rep

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Speaker 1: and booker was getting tons of three point shots out

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00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:06,680
Speaker 1: of that this season Devin Booker, Landry Shammon and Jay crowder.

431
00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:09,920
Speaker 1: We're all in the sixty five percentile or better as

432
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,600
Speaker 1: off screen players this year. But I wanted to before

433
00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:15,280
Speaker 1: we move on from offense, I wanted to talk about

434
00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:18,560
Speaker 1: the stars for a second because with Devin Booker, and

435
00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:21,119
Speaker 1: you know for our player rankings I had him at

436
00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:24,560
Speaker 1: fifteen and again I did like fifteen solid minutes on

437
00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:27,040
Speaker 1: Devin Booker. So if you guys want to go over

438
00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:30,120
Speaker 1: into our feed and scroll further down, you can hear

439
00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:32,520
Speaker 1: all of his metrics from the different spots on the

440
00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:35,000
Speaker 1: floor and how efficient he was the season, some stuff

441
00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:37,800
Speaker 1: that I learned on tape about his approach. I went

442
00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:41,040
Speaker 1: a lot deeper into booker in that specific video. All

443
00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:45,320
Speaker 1: I'M gonna say here is he absolutely has an elite

444
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,600
Speaker 1: skill that mimics what a lot of superstar star superstars

445
00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:52,040
Speaker 1: doing this league, and that's free level scoring, particularly as

446
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:55,200
Speaker 1: an off the dribble shooter. But he's something less than

447
00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:57,119
Speaker 1: a superstar. I don't think that's a hot take. I

448
00:22:57,119 --> 00:22:59,560
Speaker 1: would imagine most of you guys would agree with me.

449
00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:02,160
Speaker 1: He doesn't impact the game enough outside of his off

450
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:04,720
Speaker 1: the dribble shooting to be that type of player. And

451
00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:07,280
Speaker 1: what ends up happening is when you're off the dribble

452
00:23:07,320 --> 00:23:10,919
Speaker 1: shooting fails you, which it can, and it happens for

453
00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,080
Speaker 1: superstars too. I've seen off the dribble shooting fail Kevin

454
00:23:14,119 --> 00:23:16,600
Speaker 1: Durant against the Boston Celtics, a guy who shot fifty

455
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,560
Speaker 1: on off the dribble shots all season and that fell

456
00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:23,080
Speaker 1: into the low thirties against Boston. Kawhi Leonard Against Denver.

457
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:26,320
Speaker 1: His off the dribble shooting failed him late in that series.

458
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:29,200
Speaker 1: But those guys impact the game in a lot of

459
00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:31,560
Speaker 1: ways outside of what they do. Kevin Durant as a

460
00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:34,679
Speaker 1: defensive player and as a playmaker, Kawhi Leonard as a

461
00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,480
Speaker 1: defensive player. For Devin Booker, even though he does compete

462
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:39,000
Speaker 1: on the defensive end of the floor, and we're gonna

463
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,520
Speaker 1: get to that later, when his off the dribble shooting

464
00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:44,280
Speaker 1: fails him, he just doesn't have other punches in his

465
00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:47,480
Speaker 1: bag that he can go to to impact winning. You know,

466
00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:49,200
Speaker 1: I was talking to a buddy of mine, Jeremiah, is

467
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:51,840
Speaker 1: a huge, huge Suns Fan, this morning and he made

468
00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:54,800
Speaker 1: a really interesting comp he said that he said that

469
00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:58,200
Speaker 1: Devin booker reminds him of Chris Middleton. Now I actually

470
00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:00,440
Speaker 1: think devin booker is a little better than Chris Middleton

471
00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:04,080
Speaker 1: in large part up here, because I think he's more confident,

472
00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:07,840
Speaker 1: which makes him more consistent. But there's a similarity there

473
00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:09,119
Speaker 1: in the sense that, you know, in the way that

474
00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 1: Jeremiah put it, he's like like like. Middleton needs his

475
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,399
Speaker 1: nice right like. If Middleton was the best player on

476
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,800
Speaker 1: his team the with his inconsistency as a pull up

477
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:21,119
Speaker 1: jump shooter, he just wouldn't be able to impact winning

478
00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:23,800
Speaker 1: enough to lead a team to any sort of legitimate goal.

479
00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 1: And the same thing goes for Devin Booker. They need

480
00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:30,560
Speaker 1: that superstar above them that can pull more weight on

481
00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:33,720
Speaker 1: a night in, night out basis so that they're inconsistencies

482
00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:36,200
Speaker 1: don't hurt them. That's not a criticism. I still think

483
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,080
Speaker 1: he's the Fifteenth Best Player in the League. I think

484
00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:40,280
Speaker 1: he's better than Chris Middleton. But I did think that

485
00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:42,640
Speaker 1: was an interesting camp from my friend Jeremiah. That makes

486
00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:46,679
Speaker 1: a lot of sense to me. Like devin booker is

487
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:49,679
Speaker 1: is has an elite skill that can carry you to

488
00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:52,119
Speaker 1: an NBA championship in the right setting, but you're not

489
00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:54,199
Speaker 1: going to get to that setting unless you have a

490
00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:57,800
Speaker 1: superior star level player that can pull more weight during

491
00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:00,879
Speaker 1: the regular season, and with CPF ree it's just the

492
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:04,160
Speaker 1: physical breaking down. Like I mean what when you look

493
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,960
Speaker 1: at the way he played against New Orleans, that was

494
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:10,080
Speaker 1: some of the best basketball he's ever played in his career.

495
00:25:10,680 --> 00:25:12,960
Speaker 1: He does take care of his body better than he

496
00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:15,560
Speaker 1: ever has in his career. His game is as well

497
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,280
Speaker 1: rounded and polished than it's ever been in his career.

498
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:22,359
Speaker 1: The problem is is his body, excuse me, his body

499
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,960
Speaker 1: fails him time and time again, and this year it

500
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:28,800
Speaker 1: was his quad injury, allegedly, but I mean I believe

501
00:25:28,880 --> 00:25:32,120
Speaker 1: him like that's a ridiculous fall off to go from

502
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:34,640
Speaker 1: twenty three, five and ten, or your first eight playoff

503
00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:39,080
Speaker 1: games on dropping down to nine, three and six like that.

504
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,320
Speaker 1: He's right, I I believe him, but the reality is

505
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:45,440
Speaker 1: is he broke down this year. He broke down last year,

506
00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:48,360
Speaker 1: he broke down half of the years before that. It's

507
00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:50,760
Speaker 1: it's the reality of the Chris Paul Experience. At this

508
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:52,520
Speaker 1: point I think you almost have to count on it.

509
00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:56,720
Speaker 1: which brings us to Eighton and bridges. These are the

510
00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:00,639
Speaker 1: two players that Phoenix has invested heavily and financially after

511
00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:04,000
Speaker 1: Devin Booker and Chris Paul. They need those two guys

512
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:07,119
Speaker 1: to develop and they just simply haven't. I'm gonna talk

513
00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:09,240
Speaker 1: a little bit more about Michael Bridges later on because

514
00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:11,399
Speaker 1: he's our x factor for this particular team, so I

515
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 1: don't want to get into the weeds with him there yet.

516
00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:15,760
Speaker 1: But those two guys have to be able to create

517
00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:19,240
Speaker 1: their own shot consistently. It can't just be eighton punishing

518
00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:22,800
Speaker 1: mismatches in pick and roll switches. They need the ability

519
00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:24,560
Speaker 1: to throw the ball down to the block with him

520
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 1: to initiate offense. It can't just be mcaal bridges attacking

521
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:30,720
Speaker 1: closeouts and shooting, catching shoot threes. He's one of the

522
00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:33,480
Speaker 1: best close out attackers in the league. He's a great

523
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:37,080
Speaker 1: catch and shoot player. The problem is is when Paul

524
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,359
Speaker 1: and Booker Start to fail them, they need someone that

525
00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:44,159
Speaker 1: can initiate offense. Micail bridges has that level of talent.

526
00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,359
Speaker 1: He just hasn't developed it yet. They need more out

527
00:26:47,400 --> 00:26:51,320
Speaker 1: of Eton and bridges. That's their only hope to ellipsing

528
00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,639
Speaker 1: this eclipsing this seventh ranking that I've given them, to

529
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:58,440
Speaker 1: reach back to what their what everyone uh perceived their perception,

530
00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:01,600
Speaker 1: excuse me, their potential to be earlier in the season.

531
00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:04,359
Speaker 1: Moving on to the defensive end of the four super

532
00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:06,600
Speaker 1: traditional with the rest of the league, they drop with

533
00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:09,080
Speaker 1: Aton and then they switch one through four when necessary.

534
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:11,040
Speaker 1: You'll see them try to stay home when they can,

535
00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:13,439
Speaker 1: especially with specific matchups, but they are a lot more

536
00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:16,000
Speaker 1: willing to switch on the perimeter. They're one of the

537
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:18,040
Speaker 1: best teams in the League, in my opinion, at chasing

538
00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:20,920
Speaker 1: over the top of screens. Obviously Chris Paul and Devin

539
00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:22,760
Speaker 1: Booker lead the way in this department. They do the

540
00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:25,840
Speaker 1: best they can. Um The one that I'm most impressed

541
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:27,600
Speaker 1: with here that I wanted to shout out as Michael

542
00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:32,480
Speaker 1: Bridges that series against Dallas and again, like Luca, ended

543
00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:36,160
Speaker 1: up winning the day, but the job that Michael Bridges

544
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:41,320
Speaker 1: did chasing uh Luca over the top of screens was

545
00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:44,919
Speaker 1: so incredibly impressive, especially when you factor in the fact that,

546
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:48,520
Speaker 1: as a bigger player and as a skinny player, that's

547
00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:51,320
Speaker 1: like the two factors that make it hardest to chase

548
00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:53,280
Speaker 1: over the top of screens. The types of players that

549
00:27:53,359 --> 00:27:56,960
Speaker 1: chase over screens really well are usually short and stocky,

550
00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:59,720
Speaker 1: low center of gravity, difficult to bump off their line

551
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:02,480
Speaker 1: and they fight through contact really well. But that's just

552
00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:03,879
Speaker 1: Michail Bridge and this is why he's one of the

553
00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:06,800
Speaker 1: best defensive players in the league. He's got the physical

554
00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:10,080
Speaker 1: tools of a range e athletic wing with the mobility

555
00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:13,520
Speaker 1: and commitment to the physicality that you see from bulldog

556
00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:17,000
Speaker 1: guards around the league and and that's what makes Michael Bridges,

557
00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:19,280
Speaker 1: you know, the defensive player of the year candidate that

558
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:21,320
Speaker 1: he is and I just I just find him to

559
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:23,480
Speaker 1: be extremely impressive and one of the things, and we'll

560
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:25,439
Speaker 1: talk about this a little bit more later, but like

561
00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:27,359
Speaker 1: one of the things that was interesting about that Phoenix

562
00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:29,800
Speaker 1: Sun series with the Dallas Mavericks is early in the

563
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:32,520
Speaker 1: series Luca was coming off those ball screens trying to

564
00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:35,760
Speaker 1: get downhill, but bridges are staying glued to his backside.

565
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:37,919
Speaker 1: So the way that they confronted that is, instead of

566
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:40,680
Speaker 1: trying to go downhill on the screen, he started flaring

567
00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,959
Speaker 1: out wide on the screen to force the switch. Liking

568
00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:47,920
Speaker 1: his chances attacking Eighton more than he liked attacking Michael

569
00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:52,680
Speaker 1: Bridges so many. Williams is an excellent defensive coach. He

570
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:55,960
Speaker 1: Uh is prioritizing the right things on the defensive end

571
00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:57,760
Speaker 1: of the floor and he has a smart scheme. They

572
00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:00,960
Speaker 1: were second in defending the three point line these days.

573
00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,560
Speaker 1: Like I say, if you're a smart basketball team, if

574
00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:07,400
Speaker 1: you have defensive limitations, you're either picking the three point

575
00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:10,040
Speaker 1: line or the paint. If you don't have defensive limitations

576
00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:13,880
Speaker 1: and you're an outstanding defensive team, you're guarding both extremely well.

577
00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:16,760
Speaker 1: The son's guarded the three point line better than everybody

578
00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:19,160
Speaker 1: in the League except for the Dallas Mavericks. They were

579
00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:22,640
Speaker 1: seventh in defending the paint. They were ninth in transition defense,

580
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:24,480
Speaker 1: according to cleaning the glass. That's a big one that

581
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,600
Speaker 1: I look at for coaching too. That's getting your players commitment,

582
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:32,120
Speaker 1: committed to the job of transition defense, sprinting back every time,

583
00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:36,080
Speaker 1: not complaining to the refs, communicating with each other, knowing Um,

584
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:39,680
Speaker 1: knowing your responsibilities in those transition scrambles. They're a well

585
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:42,520
Speaker 1: coached basketball team with a smart defensive scheme. The defensive

586
00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:46,320
Speaker 1: end of the floor is typically not an issue for them,

587
00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:48,600
Speaker 1: although it ended up being so against Dallas, but we're

588
00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:50,920
Speaker 1: gonna get to that here in just a minute. They

589
00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:54,000
Speaker 1: have really good options for matchups. Jay crowder is like

590
00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:56,680
Speaker 1: a big, physical, low center of gravity forward that can

591
00:29:56,720 --> 00:30:00,200
Speaker 1: play your stronger rim pressuring forwards, like your hitl words

592
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:02,920
Speaker 1: in your Lebron James. But then they also have Michael

593
00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:06,840
Speaker 1: Bridges as like this, longer, more athletic, still pretty stout,

594
00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:09,160
Speaker 1: hold his ground, type of player that can guard that

595
00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:12,400
Speaker 1: type of player but also have success against the shiftier

596
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:14,760
Speaker 1: players that Jake crowder would struggle with, guys like a

597
00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:17,840
Speaker 1: you know, like a Paul George, a guy's quicker, more athletic,

598
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:22,280
Speaker 1: that kind of thing. Um Uh, deandre Ayton as well,

599
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:25,520
Speaker 1: does well and switches. I mean again, Luca Don Chitch

600
00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:27,080
Speaker 1: was having his way with him, but at the end

601
00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:28,920
Speaker 1: of the day that's Luka Don Chitch and he's gonna

602
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:30,840
Speaker 1: do the same thing to most of the best defensive

603
00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:33,160
Speaker 1: players in the league. But deandre Ayton as a weapon

604
00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:35,680
Speaker 1: that can switch out and pick and roll, also defend

605
00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:38,240
Speaker 1: and drop pretty well. His commitment to defense can wax

606
00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:39,840
Speaker 1: and Wayne over the course of the season, but I

607
00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:42,160
Speaker 1: think he's I personally think he's gotten a lot better

608
00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:44,640
Speaker 1: over the course of the last two years in that regard.

609
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:46,400
Speaker 1: And then this is where I wanted to shout out

610
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:50,240
Speaker 1: devin booker because, Um, and I shouted out this during

611
00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:53,440
Speaker 1: the player rankings in in in a little more in

612
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:57,480
Speaker 1: depth way, but remember when Rudy Gobert was complaining about

613
00:30:57,480 --> 00:30:59,840
Speaker 1: Donovan Mitchell and talked in comparing him to Devin Booker

614
00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:01,480
Speaker 1: and his commitment to defense? That sort of thing is

615
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:05,280
Speaker 1: real and it's not just about impact, because obviously having

616
00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:08,920
Speaker 1: devin booker play hard on defense and commit helps them

617
00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:12,400
Speaker 1: get stops. But it's not just that. It's setting the tone,

618
00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:14,000
Speaker 1: and this is something that I talked about all the

619
00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:16,760
Speaker 1: time on the show, and it's so important for stars

620
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:19,600
Speaker 1: to apply themselves on the defensive end of the floor,

621
00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:22,840
Speaker 1: if for no reason then to make it easier for

622
00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:26,160
Speaker 1: you to hold the lower level players accountable to their job.

623
00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:28,880
Speaker 1: You know, too many times I hear Lebron fans say

624
00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:31,880
Speaker 1: things like, oh, Lebron can't play defense, he is too

625
00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:34,400
Speaker 1: big of an offensive role, and I do agree in

626
00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:36,640
Speaker 1: the sense that, like, yeah, you don't want to unleash

627
00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:40,320
Speaker 1: Lebron to guard Kevin Durant for forty eight minutes. Like yeah,

628
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:42,600
Speaker 1: you want to try to give him a somewhat less

629
00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 1: labor intensive role. I don't want Lebron chasing everybody through

630
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:49,120
Speaker 1: screens all day long. But the reality is is I

631
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:52,400
Speaker 1: do want him engaged in play, whatever his role is,

632
00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:55,240
Speaker 1: doing it to the best of his ability, because that's

633
00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:57,160
Speaker 1: what gives you the credibility to hold the rest of

634
00:31:57,160 --> 00:31:59,960
Speaker 1: your team accountable. That's what gives that that's what gives

635
00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:04,440
Speaker 1: your team a culture of defensive commitment and the credit.

636
00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:06,240
Speaker 1: I want to apply a lot of credit to Devin

637
00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:09,520
Speaker 1: booker because even though he's worked hard to become an

638
00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:13,040
Speaker 1: average defensive player in him, being an average defensive player

639
00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:15,880
Speaker 1: at the two isn't gonna Swing any playoff series. It

640
00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:18,000
Speaker 1: does set the tone and I do think Devin Booker

641
00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:20,920
Speaker 1: deserves a lot of credit for that. But they do

642
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:23,920
Speaker 1: have defensive weaknesses in personnel that got exposed against the

643
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,560
Speaker 1: Dallas Mavericks. So they gave up a hundred and fourteen

644
00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:29,160
Speaker 1: point three points per one hundred possessions against Dallas after

645
00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:31,160
Speaker 1: giving up like something crazy like a hundred and seven

646
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:32,840
Speaker 1: in the regular season or a hundred and six, something

647
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:35,600
Speaker 1: like that. A huge part of this is the way

648
00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:38,240
Speaker 1: that Luca was able to target specific matchups. We talked

649
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:41,240
Speaker 1: about this when we were talking about scheming a couple

650
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:43,680
Speaker 1: episodes ago. I can't remember exactly which team we were

651
00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:45,840
Speaker 1: talking about, but I told you guys about how, like

652
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:50,680
Speaker 1: you know, a defensive scheme and defensive scouting can help

653
00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:53,800
Speaker 1: you get in front of sets. So, for instance, Spain

654
00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:57,680
Speaker 1: pick and roll. I uh, you know, any coach, over

655
00:32:57,680 --> 00:32:59,600
Speaker 1: a seven game series is gonna come up with a

656
00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:01,760
Speaker 1: Strat g with which to at least make it more

657
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:04,360
Speaker 1: difficult than it is during the flow of the regular

658
00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:06,120
Speaker 1: season when they're getting whatever they want out of it

659
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:09,720
Speaker 1: every single time. You know, uh, regardless of what the

660
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:12,000
Speaker 1: offensive said is, if you scouted enough times and you

661
00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:14,040
Speaker 1: know where players are gonna go, you can get in

662
00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:16,360
Speaker 1: front of those things. But when it comes to brute

663
00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:20,200
Speaker 1: force offense, in this case Luca Don Chech attacking mismatches,

664
00:33:20,640 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 1: there is no scheme for it. Your scheme is leave

665
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,600
Speaker 1: him on the island to attack one on one, in

666
00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:30,760
Speaker 1: which case he might burn you, and he did, or

667
00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:33,720
Speaker 1: you can send help and he might burn you, and

668
00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:37,960
Speaker 1: he will with the pass. That's the reality of playoff

669
00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 1: mismatch attacking offense. It's scheme proof. That's why teams like Dallas,

670
00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,160
Speaker 1: who were fourteenth, I think, in offense during the regular season,

671
00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:50,160
Speaker 1: hung a hundred and fourteen points per one hundred possessions

672
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:52,040
Speaker 1: against one of the best defenses in the League in

673
00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:55,400
Speaker 1: the playoff series because he was able to pull eighton

674
00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:58,400
Speaker 1: out to the perimeter and attack him in isolation. He

675
00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:01,400
Speaker 1: was able to get post mismatches against Chris Paul and

676
00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:05,440
Speaker 1: post mismatches against Devin Booker. Too often we look at

677
00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,279
Speaker 1: the team concept and what the team can do against

678
00:34:08,400 --> 00:34:11,280
Speaker 1: the UH, the other team in a five on five setting,

679
00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:13,680
Speaker 1: and we forget the fact that it doesn't matter if

680
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:16,239
Speaker 1: this guy can't guard this guy and all he has

681
00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:17,839
Speaker 1: to do is seek him out and as long as

682
00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:20,520
Speaker 1: he finds that matchup and as long as they space

683
00:34:20,600 --> 00:34:23,480
Speaker 1: the floor pop properly, you're gonna have issues. It's kind

684
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:25,520
Speaker 1: of like the concept of the weakest link. But this

685
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:28,879
Speaker 1: is why I gravitate towards your big playmaking wings more

686
00:34:28,880 --> 00:34:32,040
Speaker 1: than any other superstar archetype. I like your three level

687
00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:34,480
Speaker 1: scores that can defend. You know, I like your big men,

688
00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:38,080
Speaker 1: like Yo kitchen embid, but these perimeter players that can

689
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:41,200
Speaker 1: consistently pick a part of defense with surgery, and I

690
00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:43,040
Speaker 1: only think there's two of them in the League right now.

691
00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:46,560
Speaker 1: Basically Luca and Lebron, but I've always gravitated towards those

692
00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:49,319
Speaker 1: kinds of guys because they just find a way to

693
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:52,759
Speaker 1: win these playoff chess matches. It's like I was talking about,

694
00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:56,080
Speaker 1: with Luca pulling eight in away. He understood that as

695
00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:59,120
Speaker 1: he navigated into their pick and roll coverage, it wasn't working.

696
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,320
Speaker 1: With Mikhail bridges glued to his backside. He was having

697
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:04,640
Speaker 1: the most success when he was getting eight non switches,

698
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:07,200
Speaker 1: and so instead of working downhill, he's coming off these

699
00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:10,600
Speaker 1: ball screens and he's flaring out way wide, dragging eight

700
00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:13,600
Speaker 1: and out with him, forcing bridges to roll down the

701
00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:15,920
Speaker 1: lane with Dwight Powell or Maxi Cleb or whoever it

702
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:17,879
Speaker 1: was that was in that position at that point in time.

703
00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:22,200
Speaker 1: Luca Don Chitch was able to discover and attack the

704
00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:25,560
Speaker 1: weaknesses in the Phoenix Suns Defense and turned them into

705
00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:28,279
Speaker 1: a below average defense in a playoff series, to the

706
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:30,120
Speaker 1: point where they couldn't get a stop to save their

707
00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:33,319
Speaker 1: lives in game seven when they fell apart. So it's

708
00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:35,719
Speaker 1: just it's a testament to Luca Don Chich. It's an

709
00:35:35,719 --> 00:35:38,880
Speaker 1: explanation of what's of what works in the modern NBA

710
00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:41,200
Speaker 1: and it's something for us to keep in mind looking

711
00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:45,279
Speaker 1: forward when we're evaluating defenses. If I'm looking at a

712
00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:48,040
Speaker 1: Phoenix Suns team that is the, you know, fifth best

713
00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:49,920
Speaker 1: defense in the League, or whatever. They were third, third

714
00:35:50,000 --> 00:35:53,760
Speaker 1: or fifth? Uh, let's see, they were third in defense,

715
00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:56,440
Speaker 1: so we're looking at the third best defense in the league.

716
00:35:56,760 --> 00:35:59,680
Speaker 1: But they have these personnel weaknesses right with like Devin

717
00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:03,920
Speaker 1: Book and and, uh, you know, deandre Ayton on switches,

718
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,239
Speaker 1: or Chris Paul, whoever it is, in post up situations.

719
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:09,080
Speaker 1: That is something we need to pay more attention to

720
00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:12,120
Speaker 1: than what their actual defensive rating was, whereas like, let's

721
00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:15,400
Speaker 1: say the clippers end up with the tenth best defensive

722
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:18,160
Speaker 1: rating in basketball, but their key lineups in the big

723
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:22,560
Speaker 1: moments of the game are like Paul, George Kawhi, Leonard Nick, Patum,

724
00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:27,279
Speaker 1: Marcus Morris and Reggie Jackson. It's like, Oh, they only

725
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:29,760
Speaker 1: have one guy that can attack there and it's Reggie,

726
00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:32,680
Speaker 1: and they're so athletic around it that they can recover.

727
00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:34,840
Speaker 1: Added that that that needs to be the way that

728
00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:37,200
Speaker 1: we evaluate these kinds of things. We need to pay

729
00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:41,239
Speaker 1: pay more close attention to what, conceptually, the defense will

730
00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:44,399
Speaker 1: look like in a playoff setting. Versus what they're able

731
00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:47,960
Speaker 1: to accomplish over a very large sample size in a

732
00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:50,480
Speaker 1: regular season. The Dallas Mavericks, for another example of this,

733
00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:53,240
Speaker 1: giving up a hundred and twenty points per one hundred

734
00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:56,680
Speaker 1: possessions against Golden State after being the seventh best defense

735
00:36:56,760 --> 00:37:00,200
Speaker 1: in the regular season. Their personnel, golden state just found

736
00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:02,080
Speaker 1: a way to put them in the blender and attack

737
00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:06,239
Speaker 1: him that way. Um, okay. So let's move on to

738
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:08,360
Speaker 1: the best case scenario. So they're still gonna win a

739
00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:11,760
Speaker 1: ship ton of games. They're too young, they're too athletic

740
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:14,000
Speaker 1: and they're too talented not to win a ship a

741
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:16,360
Speaker 1: ton of games. I would be shocked if they lost

742
00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:19,200
Speaker 1: or I'd be shocked if they won less than fifty

743
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:21,279
Speaker 1: five games. I feel pretty confident that they'll be okay

744
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,080
Speaker 1: in that department. Um, I have them at seventh because

745
00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:26,520
Speaker 1: of playoff concerns everything that I just explained to you.

746
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:29,520
Speaker 1: Devin Booker and and Chris Paul is struggling to create

747
00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:32,880
Speaker 1: shots the defensive shortcomings of uh in the way that

748
00:37:33,280 --> 00:37:36,040
Speaker 1: really high end superstars can attack them. That's why I

749
00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:38,360
Speaker 1: have them as low as I as I do. But

750
00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:41,400
Speaker 1: even though CP three has been known to break down.

751
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:43,520
Speaker 1: He just needs to be better than what he's been.

752
00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:46,080
Speaker 1: It's okay, he doesn't have to give you twenty, three,

753
00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:49,520
Speaker 1: five and ten if Devin Booker is great and Mikhail

754
00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:51,680
Speaker 1: Bridges and deandre and make a leap, but he also

755
00:37:51,719 --> 00:37:53,520
Speaker 1: can't give you nine points a game. They need to

756
00:37:53,560 --> 00:37:55,279
Speaker 1: get more out of him than what they got over

757
00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:57,520
Speaker 1: the course of the rest of that series. Devin booker

758
00:37:57,560 --> 00:37:59,600
Speaker 1: needs to stay hot, his pull up shooting can't fail

759
00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:02,480
Speaker 1: him in the biggest moments, and then that offensive development

760
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:04,600
Speaker 1: from Eton and bridges that I talked about. This is

761
00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:06,719
Speaker 1: why they're the things that can things that have to

762
00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:09,839
Speaker 1: go right, type of contender. If those things go right,

763
00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:12,840
Speaker 1: if if Paul doesn't completely fall apart, if booker stays

764
00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:16,399
Speaker 1: hot and if Eton and bridges continue to develop as young,

765
00:38:16,719 --> 00:38:20,319
Speaker 1: talented basketball players, they absolutely can win a championship. It's

766
00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:23,279
Speaker 1: just those things have to go right and chances are

767
00:38:23,400 --> 00:38:25,759
Speaker 1: they won't, and that's why I don't have them in

768
00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:28,000
Speaker 1: the top tier. And that same reasoning will apply to

769
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:31,520
Speaker 1: the other teams that talk about later on. Their worst

770
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:33,879
Speaker 1: case scenario is basically what you've seen the last two years.

771
00:38:34,120 --> 00:38:36,560
Speaker 1: A Better version of the Utah Jazz, a team that

772
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:38,680
Speaker 1: succeeds a great deal in the regular season but has

773
00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:42,719
Speaker 1: specific playoffs shortcomings. That team's target and relentlessly kick them

774
00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:46,920
Speaker 1: out before they before they get to the trophy Um.

775
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:48,480
Speaker 1: And then at that point, I mean if something bad

776
00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:50,000
Speaker 1: like that happens again, I think we could be heading

777
00:38:50,000 --> 00:38:52,520
Speaker 1: towards a blow up um, either in the middle of

778
00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:54,680
Speaker 1: the season, if they have some sort of injury, or

779
00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:57,120
Speaker 1: after the season. The biggest x factor on this team

780
00:38:57,120 --> 00:39:00,680
Speaker 1: is Mikhail bridges. He's already one of the best defensive

781
00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:03,719
Speaker 1: players in basketball. He has a really nice jump shot release.

782
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:05,799
Speaker 1: He shot thirty eight percent on catching shoot threes and

783
00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:08,800
Speaker 1: forty seven percent on pull up jumpers, which is amazing,

784
00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:12,160
Speaker 1: although it's important context, the vast majority, the vast, vast,

785
00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:16,200
Speaker 1: vast majority, of those pull up jump shots came attacking closeouts.

786
00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:19,200
Speaker 1: He's got a really good one dribble pull up um

787
00:39:19,560 --> 00:39:22,040
Speaker 1: going to his left. He also has a really nice,

788
00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:25,680
Speaker 1: like two or three dribble, like short running jump shot

789
00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:28,120
Speaker 1: that he makes kind of around the semicircle in the lane.

790
00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:31,160
Speaker 1: That's really, really pretty looking. He's got all of that skill,

791
00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:34,000
Speaker 1: but he struggles to create his own shot against a

792
00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:37,640
Speaker 1: set defense. He averaged zero points, six points per possession

793
00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:41,319
Speaker 1: and isolation, which is really not nearly good enough. When

794
00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:44,560
Speaker 1: Booker and CP three go cold, which is a possibility

795
00:39:44,600 --> 00:39:47,439
Speaker 1: with this roster, they need someone that can become an

796
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:50,600
Speaker 1: offensive initiator, and there's two ways that I'd like to

797
00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:53,239
Speaker 1: see Mikhail bridges approach that issue. One, he needs to

798
00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:55,479
Speaker 1: improve as a ball handler so that he can stare

799
00:39:55,480 --> 00:39:58,880
Speaker 1: at defender face to face and hit quick, compact, efficient

800
00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:02,960
Speaker 1: moves to get his defender. especially with his threat as

801
00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:05,360
Speaker 1: a jump shooter and his height and his ability to

802
00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:07,440
Speaker 1: shoot over the top, he should be able to do that.

803
00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:09,440
Speaker 1: The second thing that I'd like to see him do

804
00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:12,920
Speaker 1: more is post up. He was an outstanding post up

805
00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:15,520
Speaker 1: player on a per possession basis this year. It was

806
00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:19,200
Speaker 1: just on ridiculously low volume, but he's got good size,

807
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:22,399
Speaker 1: he's good at shooting fading over his right shoulder. I'd

808
00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:25,160
Speaker 1: like to see him weaponize that post game a little

809
00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:28,759
Speaker 1: bit more, especially since he's gonna draw some smaller defenders

810
00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:31,080
Speaker 1: with the way teams are gonna put their best perimeter

811
00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:33,440
Speaker 1: defender on Devin Booker and they have to have a

812
00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:36,279
Speaker 1: big athlete to deal with Deandre Ayton. He's gonna get

813
00:40:36,320 --> 00:40:38,400
Speaker 1: some good draws on the defensive end of the floor

814
00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:40,279
Speaker 1: and I'd like to see I'd like to see him

815
00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:42,959
Speaker 1: weaponize that more in the post. If Michael Bridges takes

816
00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:45,560
Speaker 1: a leap to legitimate, to a all star, it would

817
00:40:45,560 --> 00:40:47,759
Speaker 1: fix a lot of their issues that they have on

818
00:40:47,840 --> 00:40:50,319
Speaker 1: the booker and CP three front. All right, guys, that

819
00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:52,759
Speaker 1: is all I have for today. As always, I sincerely

820
00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:54,960
Speaker 1: appreciate your support and we will be back with number

821
00:40:54,960 --> 00:42:00,239
Speaker 1: six tomorrow and the volume one